Another Beginning
by Punkette-Witch
Summary: Slightly revised. In the years after the final downfall of the Dark Lord, Hogwarts opens its doors to the other wizarding schools of the world. Now a group of misfit, and rather nonconformist foreigners must attend Hogwarts...against their will.
1. Prologue

_Another Beginning_

In the years after the final downfall of the Dark Lord, Hogwarts opens its doors to the other wizarding schools of the world. Now a group of misfit, and rather nonconformist foreigners must attend Hogwarts…against their will.

**Disclaimer:** This story has been written by Punkette-Witch, but the prologue was written spur-of-the moment by Jinxeh. The standard rules apply—anything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, and anything you don't belongs to Punkette-Witch. As a despiser of Mary-Sues, Jinxeh would like to add that she worked with Punkette on this to make sure that it stayed cliché-free. Yay. Reviews are appreciated. Flames are ignored online, and laughed at offline. Enjoy!

**Note: **The prologue is not written from the main character's point of view, but the rest of the story is.

_People say that moving is such a grand thing that when you do you'll make new friends and be able to start over. They tell you that everything will be ok and that you'll get used to it eventually. But what if what you want isn't that but to live where you are, keep the friends you have, and live the life you love without worry of changing too much to fast. Oh, but life isn't always the way we want it. Things are always changing, some times gradually, sometimes drastically, but mostly in a way you'll never suspect. _

It was good to be home.

That was all Ali could even think about as she stood in her kitchen in her small home, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. Looking through the small window above the sink, she smiled slightly as she saw the flames of the bonfire suddenly spring up in the middle of her backyard. As a small celebration of sorts about Ali's and Andrea's return from their magical boarding school, her parents had decided to have a bonfire the very same night of their return. She didn't mind; bonfires could be fun, with the muggle traditions of making 'smores' and cooking hotdogs—or 'not-dogs' in the case of her adoptive 'sister', Andrea.

As she watched, the very last rays of the sun disappeared from the sky, the once violet and orange streaks in the clouds gone, to be replaced by dark blues and the impending blackness that always came that time of the early evening. Nighttime had always been a favorite time to Ali, as she had always been rather nocturnal for some reason…of course, for Andrea it was choice.

Even as she watched, her father tossed a few more wooden branches into the middle of the bonfire as the flames began to simmer down and stay within the confines of the newly-dug fire pit. His lanky frame was silhouetted against the bright flames for a moment until they too began to simmer and become less erratic in nature. Ali could just see her mother's more slightly more pudgy figure as she sat at the picnic table a few feet away from the fire. Her arms were crossed much as her daughter's were as she watched her, and her mouth was moving; judging from the speed in which her lips moved, obviously she was talking animatedly.

And then, as Ali began to laugh, Andrea suddenly ran into the homely little scene, the long back of her coat flapping as she giggled maniacally and made to look like she was going to jump right into the fire. Ali rolled her eyes and laughed softly under her breath as her father caught Andrea around the middle and practically dragged her away from the flames. Everyone knew that Andrea liked to have her fun—she just liked to scare people for some odd reason. Though it was to be said that she had a rather unhealthy affinity with fire…

"Hey, Ali!" Andrea called towards the house as Ali's father let her go. "Get out here! And bring the not-dogs!" she added with a grin as she leapt atop the picnic table that Ali's mother sat upon. A moment later, she had lifted her head and was suddenly howling like a dog might when it was exposed to truly bad music.

Rolling her eyes now, Ali picked up the package of 'not-dogs' from the counter where she had recently put them and pulled open the screen door leading to the backyard. She almost stumbled once because of the dim lighting outside, but as she went closer to the fire the lighting became better and she was able to retain her balance quite easily.

"Here's your soy-dogs, wolf-girl," said Ali in amusement, stopping right in front of the picnic table and holding up the package of muggle food. "Shouldn't you be eating meat if you're going to howl at the moon like that?"

Black-glossed lips simply grinned down at her in return, thickly-outlined eyes shining as Andrea hopped down from the table and snatched the food out of Ali's hand. The chains on her trench coat clanging against one another—she usually chose to wear that coat, even when it was the beginning of the summer like it was now—she skipped away towards the fire.

"Sometimes I wonder where we went wrong with her…" Ali sighed to her mother as she sat next to her on the picnic table bench. "She's just so strange…"

"You know as well as I do that it wasn't us that did it to her," said her mother with a slight smile, looking over at her daughter with serious eyes. Ali's blue-green eyes were barely visible to her mother, hidden in shadow because of the flickering firelight that was upon them both, but if they could be seen they would most likely betray the troubled feeling that she felt inside. They both know that the fault of Andrea's strange and oftentimes disturbing behavior lied with her original parents, and not them.

"Glad to be home?" asked Ali's father, sauntering over after he had given Andrea a metal stick to cook her not-dogs with, and after having instructed her on how to not set fire to herself while she did it. "Gotta say—we missed you, kiddo!"

"Yeah, it's nice to be home," Ali agreed, brushing some of her shoulder-length brown hair out of her face and exposing her rather round cheeks. Unlike her friend, Andrea, she hardly ever chose to wear makeup. Even her clothing was simple—now that she wasn't at school, she chose to wear simple blue jeans and a green sweater with her rather raggedy white tennis shoes. "But I'll be glad to go back, too—after a while I get homesick for the Academy," she laughed.

If she had been paying attention, she might have noticed the rather unsettled glance that had passed between her two parents. But, as it were, she was much too busy watching Andrea to make sure she didn't set fire to her hair to notice. Either way, her parents seemed to have come to the conclusion that now was probably the best time to talk to the two teenaged girls.

"Andrea, come over here for a minute," said Mr. Martin, Ali's father, when he saw that Andrea had burnt her soy-dog into a black crisp. She liked them better that way, for some reason. Surprisingly, Andrea obeyed, sauntering over with a bit of a grin in her face, and her smoldering not-dog stuck on the metal stick. 'One would understand burning the thing if it was a normal hot dog, but come on; what was the point in burning something that didn't need to be burned…' Ali thought, shaking her head at her friend.

"Yes, kinda-sorta parental units?" Andrea asked innocently, hopping onto the picnic table once more and then dropping to her rear so that she sat on the top, with her booted feet resting on the bench next to Ali. "Uh-oh…you both got that…look…on your face…" she said suddenly, looking between the two adults. "This is it, isn't it? You're going to send me into slavery, aren't you? Damn it, I knew this day would come…"

"First off, watch your language," said Mr. Martin sternly, before he relaxed his expression again and smiled weakly at the two girls. "Second off…look you two…Ali…your mother and I found out something a couple of days ago, and we thought we should tell you about it now, before you heard it from someone else…"

"I agree with Andrea's words of wisdom," said Ali instantly, pointing up to her friend. "This is a definite 'uh-oh' moment, judging from the looks on your faces…"

"No, this is actually a good thing!" said her mother earnestly as she turned to face her. "You see…you know how much your father and I love working for the Department of Magic, but we…well…we've both gotten promotions," she said, smiling up at her husband happily.

"You did?" asked Andrea in confusion.

"You did?" asked Ali, only with a certain amount of excitement in her voice. "Really? That's awesome! You're still working at the Department though, right?" she asked suddenly, upon seeing the troubled expression on her father's face.

"That's part of the catch," said Mr. Martin with a sigh as he ran his hand through his lanky brown hair. Everything that Ali had, she had gotten from her father—except for his lanky structure. Like her mother, she was more pudgy than anything. She never complained about it though, even when people compared her to the deathly skinny girl that was known as Andrea. "We get the promotions…and really, it's a great opportunity for us…but…we have to move."

"_What_?" asked Andrea, suddenly enraged as she leapt to her booted feet. "What do you mean, we have to move? Move where?"

"It's not far, is it?" asked Ali, a slight trace of panic to be perceived within her light voice. "Like…we won't have to transfer _schools_, right?"

Outside, it looked like Ali was doing a pretty good job of staying calm, despite the shakiness of her voice. Inside, it was a different story—her heart was pounding, and her mind was racing frantically as she tried to figure out what her parents were trying to say. Her school friends, Frank, Jon, Jen, and Patti, were supposed to be staying with her and Andrea for a large portion of the summer—was that going to change now?

"Yes, actually," said Mrs. Martin apologetically. "You see we, like many Department employees, are being transferred…to the Ministry of Magic. That's in London."

"London?" Andrea shrieked, quite beside herself. "I can't go to London! Have you seen what people wear there? All of those little prints and the tweed coats and—_ewww_!"

'_Isn't London supposed to be the punk capital of the world or something, though?_' thought Ali to herself in confusion. A moment later, she pushed that thought out of her head and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "London, dad? But—but we'll still be able to stay at the Academy, right?"

"Actually Ali…we thought that…well…we're not allowed to explain why—though be rest assured that it does have something to do with all of the transfers—we thought it would be better if you were at least in the same country as us when you attend school…"

There was silence for a moment, as each girl tried to figure out what they were saying. Surprisingly, it was Andrea who managed to speak first, her breaths all coming in short gasps as she nearly hyperventilated.

"You mean—you mean…Hogwarts?" she gasped. "But…but…we don't know anyone at Hogwarts! I can't go to Hogwarts! I can't!"

"It's better for you there!" Mrs. Martin said soothingly. "And safer…" she added under her breath.

'_Safer?_' thought Ali. '_What is she talking about? God, the way she's acting it's like You-Know-Who's alive again or something…_' even though she knew that wasn't true—The Dark Lord, Voldemort, had fallen when she had just been a little girl, at the hands of the famous Harry Potter.

"But…I've never even been to London before," said Ali weakly. "And what about my friends? I was supposed to spend like _half_ of the summer with them! Is that canceled too? I mean, I won't even be able to go to _school_ with them anymore, and—"

"It's okay," said Mr. Martin, hastily interjecting her. "We're not moving for a few more weeks—and you can still have your friends come over. They'll just have to…er stay with us at our new home instead. We've already found one—it's not actually in the city, but in the country just like here! You'll see—everything will be fine!" he said, plastering on a fake smile.

'_Famous last words…_' Ali told herself mentally. But on the outside, she forced a fake smile upon her lips and tried to look sincere in her happiness for her parents despite the fact that Andrea was ranting and raving and stomping her feet atop the picnic table.


	2. Chapter 1

**Note:** The rest of the story is going to be told from Ali's point of view. Also, Punkette-Witch is writing the rest of this story. Jinxeh only wrote the prologue, though her writing will continue to be seen in this story from places where she has edited and beta'd through it. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Are We Ever Going to Leave the House?

_Several years ago..._

The sky was turning bright, fiery colors as the sun set for the day. It was such a beautiful sunset, one of the prettiest ones to be seen. It could be seen for all its magnificence as it set behind the woods in the back, as well as the field off to the side of them. The wide-scene of the view showed that the woods was just on the outskirts of the town not even six miles away. My house had always been pretty, and I had always enjoyed living it is, as there had never been any problems with it. Until today.

As the colors of the sunset began to fade, I could hear the shouts and screams from below. Turning away from the window I was at, I ran into the other room across the hall. Looking through the window there I looked down onto the street. People were running down the street, screaming, some using wands to fight back.

Hearing popping sounds off to the right side of the road I saw robed figures fighting, some wearing masks in white or black. You could hear shouts of spells being tossed around, but not able to tell them apart. You could see the thick smoke from all the spells. Looking back at the people fleeing I heard my dad yell from down stairs, "We need to stop this now! Ali will be fine as long as she stays here. I know she's only _five_ but she knows not to get involved! Now let's go!" With that I heard the door shut behind him. That was my father's Department of Magic training taking him over again. Looking out the window once again, I watched as mom and dad went to help the others.

Hearing a _pop_ close and seeing movement out of the corner of my eye I turned and looked back across the road from my house. The house across the street was like my own. It was a Tudor/English styled two story house. But unlike mine which was a light blue color that one was a pale yellow. In front of the house half way down its driveway there stood two people both in black robes and masks. One had a white mask on and looked as tall as daddy. The other one wore a green and silver mask and looked about my height and probably my age.

As the one daddy's age looked around taking everything in; from the fighting and yelling to the screaming and crying of the people trying to flee. The one my height looked from one house to the next as if searching for something. As he looked across the street at my house, he looked up towards me where I was standing in the open window. He pointed up at me and seeing this, the other one looked over to where I was. Somehow I could feel him smirk up at me, though I couldn't see it. Closing the drape quickly, I squatted down below the window scared. Closing my eyes I tried to calm down a little and not cry.

Seeing the door open still, I ran to it and towards my room. Closing the door I went to hide under the bed. Hearing a crash of the door being blasted in downstairs I screamed. I was so scared that I couldn't help but start to cry. I could hear their voices but not what they were saying, and that was the scariest thing of it all. Curling up into a little ball I tried to stay quiet, hoping that they would go away. I wanted them to go away so badly.

I could hear them moving around downstairs. I closed my eyes tightly while hearing them tear through the house. Things were crashing all over the place. As I heard glass shattering bellow I screamed again, crying harder. A moment later there was silence throughout the house. A little bit later I could hear footsteps and they had started talking once again as they moved around below. They got louder as they came to the stairs. By the time they reached the stairs they had stopped talking. As they walked up the stairs all you could hear was their feet and the creaking of the steps as they walked. Coming down the hallway the sounds of swishing robes was added to the other sounds.

I whimpered slightly as they got closer to the door of my room. Laying there in a ball with my eyes closed tightly shut, I waited for them to leave. Hearing the knob of the door squeak as it was turned my eyes flew open. I looked through the bright blue bed sheet over towards the door. I could see the knob turning and the light from under the door being obscured by a shadow in the middle. Someone said something sharply on the other side of the door and the knob stopped turning and the shadow left from underneath the door. I heard someone open the door across the hall, their footsteps receding into the other room.

As I heard them close the door across the hall, I knew that I needed to get out of there and go find mommy or daddy. Then I realized that this might be my only chance to do that. Sniffling, I wiped the tears from my eyes and got out from under the bed. Standing there for a second then taking a deep breath, I went to the door. Opening it slowly I peered into the hall and looked around carefully to see if there was anyone still in the hallway. Seeing no one I sighed and ran down the hall then down the stairs. The side door of the house was just around the wall on the other side of the stairs. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs I listened for anyone around besides myself. I only heard the people still upstairs, but the sounds they were making weren't getting louder. I then looked around to see if anyone was there, just in case I was wrong. I went to turn the corner slowly see if someone was outside the house.

I saw no one on the other side of the door or outside the windows. Sighing, I started to walk towards the door carefully, not wanting to make a noise. At some point more tears had made their way down the sides of my face. I had just touched the door handle when someone grabbed me from behind, one hand on my mouth, the other around my wrist. I hadn't heard them at all. The fact that they grabbed me made me cry out, but the thought that I hadn't heard them made me cry more. The hand on my wrist switched to my waist as they lifted me off the ground.

They where taking me back to the stairs. Struggling I tried to scream against their hand while I clawed at them, nothing seemed to work. Before we got to the stairs they yelled something in a language I didn't understand. Scared I bit them hard on the hand without thinking about it. They cursed under their breath, their hand then going to my neck instead of my mouth. They started to squeeze, I couldn't breathe. I heard foot steps coming down the hall upstairs. _I couldn't breath, I couldn't breathe…._

_xxxxxxx_

_Present Day...  
_

I awoke sitting bolt upright in bed, one hand on my chest; I was breathing so hard it hurt. It took me a moment to remember where I was. The curtains were drawn closed so I couldn't really see outside. Blinking a couple of time so that my eyes adjusted more quickly, I looked around. I was in my new house located just outside of London, England. My family had just moved here about two months ago from America, or what most Europeans call "The States".

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. _

Looking at the alarm clock, I scowled. The clock read 7:00 am. Well so much for sleep...Sighing I decided to leave the alarm on in hopes that someone besides myself would turn it off. Looking over to the floor on the other side of the bed, I stuck my tongue out at the sleeping forms of my two best friends. They, along with two of my guy friends and one other girl friend, were staying with me for the remainder of the summer before school started...well, except for Andrea, who lived with my family all year round. I swear the girl never leaves. It was my parents' fault, getting involved with her personal life seeing how they worked with the Ministry and had helped to take care of her 'special case' a while back. She was like their adopted child, or something. Oh well, stuff like that happens.

At least she'd be going with me when I transferred over to Hogwarts this year. I hadn't wanted to leave my old school, but my parents had insisted that since we were now living in London, that I had to go to Hogwarts, along with Andrea. That was the reason all of my friends were allowed to stay at my new house for the remainder of the summer—because when the summer ended, Andrea and I wouldn't see them again until, possibly, Christmas break since they were returning to our old school instead.

Getting up out of bed, I carefully moved through my room heading towards the door. Leaving it open, I went down the hall to the bathroom.

My hands shaking slightly, I splashed cold water on my face. Looking over to the hamper, I remembered that I had stuck my clothes on it the day before. Sighing, I started to change. Staring at my reflection I looked myself over. I wore a powder blue tank-top with a dark blue flannel shirt, tied at the waist. Also I wore dark blue jeans and dark blue tennis shoes. My dark brown hair was about half way down my neck and curled at the ends. My eyes were a bright blue color with small green specks mixed in. The Pentacle I wore around my neck was white gold.

That all I needed was to wear a silver pentacle, and have Patti accidentally touch it, the werewolf...  
Or to wear one of my crosses and see it glow like a nova and see Andrea frighten herself into hysterics about it. The people I live with during the summer are so _weird_, I swear. Still shaking my head, I threw the dirty clothes into the hamper.

Coming out, I decided to go and wake the little heathens in my room up, before my patience with either and both of them ran out. Looking into the room I realized they were still sound asleep. God, I felt like I was about to wake the dead. Oh, wait I was. Ohwell. Smiling to myself, I flipped the switch flooding the room with artificial light.

"AH! The light! It burns! _Hisssss_." Andrea muttered, hissing at me and covering her face with the blanket.

"Its not direct sunlight so it shouldn't burn you. Not that direct sunlight would burn your vampiric arse anyway." I said, rolling my eyes as I walked over towards the window, pulling open the blinds. Ok, maybe I was in more of a bad mood then I thought I would be after that dream. Crap. Perhaps now would be a good time to explain a little more about Andrea's bloodlines...

You see, at the school that my friends and I attended in the States, The Andromeda Light Academy, all of my friends and I where a very tight-knit group. There were, on an average, six of us in all, though there were plenty of other friends that we hung around with as well. Andrea, who I have known for...years, really is the same age as I. She's a rebel without a care, has no plans in furthering her education after school (she once told me her plan after school was to become a hobo. Honestly...), and...is a vampire of sorts.

Her story is complicated, to say the least. As vampire blood cannot be transmitted just from the offspring of a vampire, her father (who was one) decided to take matters into his own hands about it. Andrea's mother had been a timid woman, almost afraid of her husband most of the time, and never daring to leave him even though she herself was human. But that didn't stop her from contacting the American Department of Magic, also known as the ADP, when she learned of her husband's plans to turn her only child into a vampire. Unfortunately, Andrea's father found out about this. By the time the ADP arrived to the house, Andrea's mother was dead, and her father had just begun to have his little toddler feed from him. He was stopped and eventually captured as he attempted to flee, but the damage had been done. Vampire blood flowed steady through Andrea's veins. Fortunately, since the process was never completed, she was able to live almost normally afterwards. She has dark tendencies, and a strong (though not deathly) aversion to light and...yes, she does have to drink blood in order to survive. But it is a small, clean dosage every month, given to her in a transfusion bag from the local hospital.

I was never quite sure about how to describe Patti. Her father is a werewolf, and her mother is not. Then, along came little Patti, who, it seems, is half. She cannot force herself to transform into a wolf, whether it is the full moon or not...but she has come close. My friends and I have been attempting illegal animagus transformations for some time (we're horrible, we know...) but none of us have managed to completely become animals yet. Patti has come the closest, even sprouting fur and claws when she becomes angry. She lives with her parents in the States when she is not at school or such.

Surprisingly enough, this is considered to be quite common at The Andromeda Light Academy. The strange thing about our school is that it is very well known to accept any sort of magical student that wants to learn, something that many love about it, and something that many parents absolutely loathe. There are three young hags, a banshee, five werewolves (though all are male except for Patti), and an assortment of other hybrids of the races all attending our school presently. Personally, I love being in the midst of such diversity; it's thrilling. Where would the fun be without it? Besides that, if the school did not allow such people to attend...then I would not have ever met Andrea and Patti, and then where would I be?

Besides sane, I mean?

By the time I turned around Patti was missing in action, and Andrea was sitting up, scowling at me. Definitely not a happy camper, that one. I raised a hand before she could say a word. "Hey, if you save the crap for later after you're actually awake and get ready, I'll make you some coffee ok?" I asked diplomatically.

"Ok, but no decaf," Andrea replied blinking a couple of times as she started rummaging through her bag for her clothes or something. She was probably looking for that laptop of hers. To bad I had already taken it into the downstairs closet after she went to sleep. Honestly, for a girl that was so proud of being a witch, she sure was dependent on that stupid muggle thing...

I started walking towards the door ready to go downstairs when I stopped at the door. "Oh, and by the way you have about ten minutes to get your butt down stairs. Um…where's Patti?"

"She scooted her arse out of here and into the bathroom before you turned around," She said still scowling slightly.

"Fine. Fine. Just make sure you guys get the rest of that stuff packed and bring it downstairs ok? Oh…and please stopping saying arse, you're not British," Things that needed packed were the pranking materials that we were sending early back to the Academy. This was so that the students could plot their payback on the boys before they could do anything. For there were always some students that stayed during the summer.

"Yeah, sure. Now get out so I can change or it's going to be longer than ten minutes."

I walked down stairs to start cooking breakfast; I could hear Andrea yell after me, "I'm not acting British, by the way! I _am_ British, you just never realized it!" Shaking my head I looked around the kitchen.

I saw that the coffee wasn't on, which either meant that mom and dad weren't up yet or they had to leave early for the Ministry. (The name of the magical government here in England.) The kitchen was pretty big in itself. It had glass doors leading to the back porch/patio. There were two inlet counters and a walk through door leading into the dinning-room where you can see a table set for six.

Walking over to the coffee pot, I dumped the filter and put a clean one in. Taking the canister of coffee ground out of the top cupboard above the coffee maker out, I put two cups full of coffee grounds in to the filter. Filling the pot half full with six cups of water I poured it in. Turning it on, I then went to the bottom cupboard by the stove, I took two skillets out. Setting them on the stove I took four eggs, some green and red peppers, zucchini, ham, and cheese out of the fridge. Setting them on the counter, I took the hash-browns out of the freezer.

Lighting the skillets, I put vegetable oil in each. Cooking the veggies first in the smaller skillet, I cooked two of the eggs in the other. Once the eggs were cooked I set them on a plate on the counter for Patti, who had just walked into the room with that never-ceasing grin on her face. I had just start to make a veggie omelet with cheese for Andrea, when I heard someone drop their stuff in the downstairs hallway and the pot of coffee moving behind me.

"There sure as _Hell_ better not be any meat in that omelet or your dead." Andrea said as she pored herself a cup of coffee. Yes...she drinks blood once a month, but refuses to eat meat. She's a weird one.

"My _God_, don't worry. I know you'd kill me by making me a vegetarian too, and with my luck a Vegan at that," I shivered at the thought of never eating fish, chicken, or drink milk ever again. "Patti if you want you can eat your eggs now, unless you want to wait for the hash-browns, your choice," I said as she walked up beside me putting bread in to the toaster.

"I'll eat them once this is done, thanks," She said looking at me kind of oddly. "Ali, are you ok?" she asked curiously. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye while I made sure I didn't ruin Andrea's food. I new for a fact that I could lie to her, but by doing so it would eventually come back and bite me in the butt. Damn, oh well better to tell now and deal with it before the others showed up, then to deal with it in front over them all. Decisions, decisions. Choices suck when you really don't have one.

"The dreams are coming back worse then ever." I said while putting Andrea's omelet on a plate and handing it to her without looking at either of them. "I know I know. It's a _memory_ but it hasn't been this much since it happened or when I first went to Andromeda Light Academy. I just…I don't know." Adding the ham to the rest of the veggies I placed the harsh-browns in the other skillet.

No one said anything till I was done making everything and we were sitting back at the table. I looked from one girl to the next as we ate breakfast. Neither of them seemed to want to talk about it anymore then I did. A part of me wanted to talk about it, but another part didn't want to rehash what they already knew about what happened all those years ago. If it had scared me that much in the dream, god only knows how much it would scare me by telling them.

Andrea Zurcher sat across the table from me eating her omelet and drinking her coffee. She was a fairly short, but very skinny girl, with dark blonde hair with pink highlights in the front that reached all the way to her shoulders, and had blue-green eyes. Well they were supposed to be bright pink highlights, but when you have dark hair of any kind, they kind of don't come out bright. She wore a sleeveless black shirt with safety pins up the sides and a new pair of black armbands that laced all of the way up to her elbows. At the age of sixteen she was the epitome of weird. Some would have called her a "punk" or "goth" upon first meeting her, but that's not true. One, punk does not exist anymore. (Andrea swears that it died when Avril Lavigne started singing) and two, being gothic means something else besides wearing black, and so gothic was not what Andrea was. She just liked dark clothing, and being weird. Due to a high metabolism, and I guess being a vampire, she was extremely skinny. Ok, maybe she's not a pure vampire but she sure makes a lot of people think that when they get her mad enough. (Patti _swears_ her eyes started glowing once...but Patti likes to exaggerate) I couldn't really see the rest of what she wore do to the dinning room table, but it wasn't hard to guess. Most likely it was her baggier pair of black pants with the many chains hanging between the legs, with her old combat boots.

Patricia Jones sat beside Andrea on her left. She also was seventeen and looked the part of being a so-called "punk", but not as much some times. Patti was taller then me, and taller than Andrea (but then again...who wasn't?) with slightly dirty blonde hair, but hers was still more blonde then most people with that color. Her eyes were of a sky blue shade. She wore blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a black Green Day shirt. She had bought the shirt the day before we came to England from Hot Topic, an Americanized store for punks. Both Andrea and Patti still aren't sure if they had one anywhere in England. If not, I think Andrea might go into a seizure. She had actually worked at a Hot Topic back in America, but had gotten fired for wearing her roller skates on the counter during work hours. Honestly...

Patti was getting up and taking her and Andrea's plates to the sink, when she said, "So are you going to answer my question?" It sounded half way between a demand and a question that I really couldn't tell if I had to answer or not.

I had just finished eating and was about to answer her question when the door opened hitting the wall hard enough that we all cringed. Closing my mouth, I threw both girls a look that spoke volumes. I said, turning around to face whomever it was I said over my shoulder, "I'll tell you later, maybe," I looked into the hallway quickly, seeing the bags still there. I exchanged a quick glance with Andrea, who shrugged. I guess she will probably hide them eventually. One could only hope.

Two guys walked into the kitchen arguing about something. One had red hair, freckles and green eyes. His name was Jonathan Sherramm; he wore a white short sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and work boots. The other had blackish brown hair and had blue grey eyes. His name was Franklin Flynn. Looking Frank over, I scowled slightly.

Frank liked to act like he's a gangster gone "punk" but he so couldn't manage it. He wore bright blue sweats and a white sleeveless shirt under the open sweat jacket. Others probably would think first that he was prep, and I would so agree, except for the chains he wore around his neck. Honestly he did look more prep then punk but he just really didn't belong anywhere. Ever. Andrea liked to joke that he was like the boy in "Malibu's Most Wanted"...which really isn't that far from the truth.

And, for some reason, both were arguing about something or other that morning. It was nothing new, really. But this time, they were both speaking so loudly (perhaps trying to out-shout each other or something—I dunno) and it was rather annoying. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Patti cringe. She hated it when people shouted, perhaps because her ears were more sensitive to it than others. With each passing second of the boy's shouting to one another, she grew more and more angry, until...

"HEY! _Will you two can it_? Or do I have to _make_ you?" Patti screamed at them. By the time she had asked the last question she was already standing in front of them fuming. I guess she really didn't get that much sleep last night after all. Her finger was resting on Jon's chest. Though I think we all know who must have started the argument.

I watched as Frank side-stepped her, going to the fridge and grinning like a mad fool. Seriously, why did I have to fall for _him_ of all people? Well at one point I did but seeing how he was around girls…well I'm just glad I don't like him like that anymore. He goes through girlfriends like people go through toilet paper. Really I guess you could classify him as a player, but I always thought that players got something out of the relationship. All he ever got was a maiming and my lectures, but neither really ever worked or helped him at all. He always kept doing the same things over and over again. And one of these times he's going to wish he had listened to me.

Shaking my head, I turning back to see Patti, who was still in front of Jon and Andrea leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Both boys were looking at Patti in horror, neither wanting to be on her bad side. Ever. Strangely enough, Jon was also now rubbing one of his arms sourly, where a red mark was beginning to appear. Apparently Patti had gotten a hold of him when my back had been turned.

"What?" asked Patti innocently, in response to my glare to her. "I was just telling Jon not to slam the door anymore, is all..."

"Patti, seriously I'm sure it wasn't him anyway. Frank's acting way to smug for that to be true." I said throwing a dirty look back at him. Really the guys a crap monkey anyway and as soon as school starts I'm so not keeping an eye on him. I went and got a jar of healing ointment out of the locked cabinet above the stove. Walking back to the table I set the ointment down and sat back in my chair. I frowned slightly at the red mark as I looked Jon over. "Jon will you please tell me what the argument was about?"

"Trust me you don't want to know. All I said to him was to not talk about certain things in his sleep ever again." Jon said, visibly cringing. He rubbed his arms again sitting down beside me. I'm guessing I really don't want to know what it was. I looked and saw Patti leaning against the wall by Andrea. They were talking quietly so I didn't interrupt.

Nodding to Jon once, I opened the jar setting the lid to the side. Rolling up his sleeve with one hand, I dipped two fingers into the cold purple ointment. I rubbed it carefully into the wound and along the skin around it.

Jon was one of those people that were protective but not overly so. He would rather wait until you asked for help or needed it the most. I've spent a couple of nights this summer staying up and talking to him about things I don't think I ever told Patti or Andrea. That's sad in a way, and God help me if they ever knew it. Jon was more of a helpfully brotherly type of friend to me now. Once we had gone out but it just wasn't us. I'm happier with this arrangement then the other. He doesn't have a certain style or personality. Probably he could fit in anywhere, because he didn't try to fit in with one group of people.

_Snap._

Hearing the tab of a pop can being opened I looked at Frank over my shoulder. He looked mad for some reason. His eyes looked more grey then blue that moment our eyes connected. Who knows what was up with him now. Maybe it was Jon's statement but I wasn't quite sure. The moment I turned around to look at him my hand had stopped what it was doing and was just laying pressed slightly against Jon's arm.

"Ali?" asked Jon, close to my ear. Blinking twice I turned around to face him. He was looking at me carefully, but I could tell he was trying not to smile.

"What Red?" I asked using the name I used to call him when we were little. At some point I had stopped calling him that in front of others, but I still did when I could. It was funny at times really. I had actually known Jon since before I started to go to the Academy.

That first day was Hell. I had found out that I was going to have a roommate. Of course not just any roommate, but I vampiric roommate. I knew when I first saw her that by the end of the night, one of us would be dead. Thank _God_ Patti showed up before too long that first night and saved both our butts. At one point I had honestly thought that both of us would be killed by dawn.

I had been wearing a gold cross and Andrea was, for a lack of better terms, completely freaking out about it. The moment she saw it, she had begun to scream and shout, pointing her fingers at me and using every swear word that she knew, and even a few that she had made up on me. It was about then that Patti burst into the room and told her to calm down—or else. We all became friends after that. It's weird how that works. Maybe it had something to do with Patti moving into our dorm room the next day and making herself a permanent resident. Until now.

"You missed a spot." Jon said sweetly pointing to somewhere on his arm.

"Jerk," I said, playfully hitting him lightly on the head. Jon smiled gently nodding his head giving me a knowing look. I averted my eyes to stare at my lap for a second. We both knew the truth. That though I would never admit it to anyone, let alone my conscious, I did indeed still like Frank in more then just a friend way. Honestly when it came to him, I would love to stay ignorant from what my subconscious knows.

Sighing I went back to my task refusing to look at the brat back behind me. Finishing, I rolled Jon's sleeve back down. Closing the jar tightly I heard someone give an indignant cough.

"If I were you, Franky-kins, I wouldn't be flicking anyone here off. Let alone the person who is letting you stay here and has her back turned," Andrea said. I looked up at her questioningly. No body would put it past Frank to be stupid enough to do something like that. Though again Andrea could be lying to get me mad enough at him to kick his butt. Seriously how we are all friends would make other people's heads turn till they hurt, and then some. But like all friends we like to cause minor fights and mess with each other's heads often. Especially when it comes to Frank and at his expense.

"How do you know I was flicking her off? Maybe it was meant for you Andrea. Or it could have been for little Ms. Patti Mayonnaise," Frank said walking closer to the back of my chair. I looked from Andrea to Patti a worriedly. I so couldn't believe him, why would he use one of the quips that Patti hated so much. Then I thought about it. He knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to hide behind me, like I was going to protect him or something. _Yeah right._

"_Excuse_ me? _What_ did you say? Did you just call me Patti _Mayonnaise_?" As Patti was talking I could see her coming off of the wall and away from Andrea. Looking at her hands I could see claws starting. _Crap._ She was mad, _mad_ I tell you! I tilted my head slightly at Andrea, carefully telling her to get her. I so didn't want to be in between her and Frank when she was like this.

As Frank's hand came to rest on the back of my chair, I turned to face him. "Sorry." I muttered as I accidentally knocked my knee against Jon. I looked Frank in the eye teasingly. "I think it's safe to say that all three of us would turn down any offer of yours. Sorry, but we aren't buying," As I said the last statement I could tell Patti had calmed down to a reasonable level. For the air didn't feel quite as choking.

"Real funny, Ali. But it's not my fault your fish don't bite," Frank muttered looking at the other girls for a second. "At all," he said, now staring down at me. Oh, and did I mention that he also is really bad at jokes. I didn't even get that one! Did you? _Sheesh_, is that boy stupid. I shook my head, reaching back for the jar. Batting his hand off my chair I got up and went to go put it away.

By the time I turned back around, Frank had just finished his pop and was talking to Andrea about the first prank he was probably going to pull when he got back to the Academy. It was sad that only Andrea and I were going to Hogwarts, but at least the others would remain behind and give the Academy some trouble. Looking over at Patti and Jon I saw that Patti was kneeling in front of Jon. She was probably apologizing for what she did. Or at least I hoped that she was. Looking around at both groups I started to laugh. They all looked over at me.

"What's so funny?" Jon asked me getting up out of his chair, leaning against the table.

"Oh, just the fact that if anyone met all of us on a random day, they'd probably think that we where all demented or something," I said waving a hand dismissively. "Why don't you guys go practice Quidditch, while I go and get Jen up?"

I didn't wait for a response. Turning around and away from them, I went up stair to wake Jen.

I knew that they all would go and play Quidditch. They all needed to relieve some kind of stress. Andrea didn't like the fact that she would be staying and going to a new school with me. Do to the new notice about mandatory uniforms at the Academy, Patti was stressed. She hated uniforms with a passion. Jon would be going back, and without someone to talk to that was somewhat sane. Lucky me, I'm actually considered sane to some people. Finally there's Frank. His stress comes from having to plot the pranks alone and without me as an accomplice.

It was going to be a boring school year at the Andromeda Light Academy...


	3. Chapter 2

_**Punkette-Witch: **Ok sorry for the wait. I had this chapter already written before I started to post this story just in case this would happen. One, so I would have some time to write the next chapter so it wouldn't take as long. Secondly, just to be all around safe. It took some time to get it bata'd. I don't blame my bata'er for taking as long as she did for the sol facts that her parents grounded her and she wasn't allowed on her computer so I had to give her a floppy with the chapter on it. So yeah...anyway here it is enjoy._

_Oh and one last thing. Eventually I am going to have this story being viewed from other peoples points of views like Ali's friends or some other characters you do not know of as of yet. This is for many reasons. One, so that I have more things to work with and write about. Two, so that your own interest stays peeked through out the story and have something more interesting to read then text books. Lastly, so that I have a good and creative outlet for my insanity. For I am truly insane...or at least that's what my friends say anyway (just ask Jinxeh, one of my so called adopted sisters into my messed up family)._

_Once again enjoy the next chapter kids. Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW!_

_(All flames will be taken into consideration when read, but will be laughed at afterwards)._

_Chapter 2 To Hogwarts We** All** Go?_

Looking inside of Jen's room you could see that the window that led to the back was open halfway. There was clothing and books strewn all over the place. Books were stacked by the bookcase, and not on it, and underneath the window. The walls were painted a light pink. I didn't mind the color myself but, in my opinion, no one needed that much pink in one place. There were two beds to either side of the window. One bed was empty and made. It had a sky blue comforter and sheets. The other was of a corn yellow. The room was completely made up of light, pastel colors.

Actually, Patti was supposed to be staying in this room while here, but she really hated the color scheme. Andrea had her own room all to herself with dark purples, reds, greens, and mostly blacks. But yet again, they fell asleep in my room trying to keep me awake all night.

The other bed, unlike the blue one, had an occupant. That occupant was a girl with bushy red hair and green eyes. Her name was Jennifer Sweirs. She had on a pair of borrowed pajamas that were yellow with little green peas and peapods. She looked rather wide-awake for someone that slept like Andrea did.

"Hey. I see you're up and awake. Darn, now I don't get to wake you up my way," I started laughing at the glowering look she gave me. I swear none of my friends are morning people. Normally what I would do is basically throw them out of bed, though if I felt like being nice I would just jump up and down on their beds until I annoyed them to the point that they would then get up on their own. "Just kidding Jen. Let me guess…the boys woke you up with their idiotic bickering?"

"Not really. More like the slamming of the doors. I tried to go back to sleep and…well that wasn't going to happen with their noise. So I just decided to wait until they got over themselves," Jen said, rolling her eyes, and stretching and getting up.

I had met Jen just after I moved, after the last attack of the Death Eaters after Voldemort died. My parents had enrolled me into, Lehigh, a very odd muggle school. There you went through kindergarten to second grade. Then, from there, any true muggles went on from there with their normal education. Any child with magic was then transferred to the Academy.

I was just starting first grade when I met her. She was being picked on by a bunch of bullies, and I just couldn't have that. Seriously, I don't understand why people could do that. Okay...yes...so perhaps it was because I was so used to being picked on because of my supposed geekiness (a.k.a—my parents aren't rich, but most parents aren't). So I kind of took her in under my own protection, but it grew from there into a really close friendship. I sort of became the bullies bully as far as she was concerned. She was one of those people that was slightly on the chunky side, but God help you if you ever made her mad. It didn't happen often, for she was very laid back for the most part, but when it did it kind of didn't matter about size, speed, or strength. You know how people say that you get inhuman strength when you're under a lot of adrenaline and you're able to lift cars? Well when it comes to Jen, she's like that when she is _really_ mad. She could probably take someone out within seconds if she would learn better balance when fighting.

I leaned against the doorframe, my arms crossed. From where I stood I could see out the window very easily. Shaking my head I tried not to laugh at the lovely display of friendship that my friends were all making towards each other. I could see Frank being his normal self, horsing around and causing trouble. Well, he was _trying_ to anyway, while the others were in a tight little group talking about something. As I watched Frank try and put his arm around Patti, she punched him in the side, making him back away a good healthy distance.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them to much. They're outside, on their way to play Quidditch," I looked back at Jen as she was getting her stuff out for the day. She looked at me oddly. "What? I didn't do anything to them. I swear," I said, rolling my eyes and throwing my hands up in frustration.

She shook her head at me. "It's not that, Ali. I know that with witnesses around you wouldn't do too much to them. No, what I'm talking about is well…isn't today the day that…well you know?" She said, taking the stuff out and placing it on the bed. Looking back out the window I thought about it. I knew as to what she meant without her mentioning it. She was talking about the attack and the connection I had to it. My eyes widened at the thought of it, I looked back at her. Jen was now sitting on her bed looking at me patiently. "You want to talk about it?"

"No, that's ok, I'm good. Really," I added after I saw her face full of concern. I smiled at her reassuringly. "I promise I'm fine. Hey, why don't you get dressed and meet us outside? The others have probably already started playing. But you know it doesn't hurt to watch the guys get beat again by girls. Or see certain people fall off their brooms as they try to get creative and fail," I said sweetly. As soon as Jen nodded in agreement, I left her room, closing the door behind me as I do so.

Eleven years ago today was when the last rebellious movement by the Death Eaters happened. As I walked back into my room I started thinking about it and the dream. They were actually one and the same, really. The dream was actually just more of a detailed memory coming from my subconscious, just trying to scare me. It was nothing new; others had dreams like that. I lost count of the times I had walked past Andrea's room at night only to hear her crying out in her sleep. A traumatic happening in someone's past would do that to a person.

I walked over to my open closet. Taking the brass key that hung around my neck, I knelt in front of the oak chest that lied on the ground in the middle of my closet. Turning the key in the lock I took out the carefully bound old wizard newspapers. Some of them were from the _International Inquisitor_ others were from the local paper, mostly from the _National Inquirer_. Locking the chest once more, I tucked the papers under my arm and walked out of the room, heading to the back yard.

XXXXXXX

Opening the glass doors that lead onto the back patio, I blinked a couple of times, trying to let my eyes adjust to the intense bright light. Grabbing my dark blue sunglasses off of the small table at the far corner of the patio, I set out towards the woods. I loved the woods for many reasons. To me it was a means to escape reality, to be at peace, and a means of meditation with out really meditating.

Andrea always claimed I was weird because I never really did anything besides just walk around in the woods for a few hours. In her mind I was just a really great place to play your normal games; like werewolf, hide and seek, and of course the one I hated that both she and Frank loved…paintball. Damn muggle sport. Seriously, if I really wanted to get hit by something heavy I would have taken more then the bare minimum gym classes or something, or maybe I would have permanently enrolled in the 'martial arts' club if they had allowed that. But really, that club had been a waste of time. The school wasn't allowed to let anyone spar, so we just read books on the subject instead. I quit pretty quickly.

My teachers didn't understand why I refused to take any more gym classes after the one year I was stuck in the same gym class with Andrea and Frank. It was about two years ago. Every game with anything at all to do with a racket, Frank would smack me across the butt with it. That only added to the reasons why I refuse any and all invitations to play Quidditch. I'll admit I'm afraid of heights and a beaters bat, thanks to Frank. No one has of yet gotten me on a broom. I tried it when I was little and I was terrified. Though, that still hasn't completely stopped my friends from trying to get me on one.

I was jolted out of my thoughts as I heard yelling and arguing coming from the clearing up ahead. Running the last twenty or so yards I broke through the trees into the huge clearing. Setting the papers down I looked around, I saw that Jen wasn't there as of yet.

The first thing I saw up in the air was something I wished I would have never seen. Up in the air, about fifteen feet off the ground, on four brooms where Andrea, Patti, Jon, and Frank. Andrea had her own set of specialized prescription sunglasses on (purple lenses, and thick black, rectangular frames—the geekiest things in the world, and yet she made them look cool. Damn vampire...) and was waving her arms around like a mad woman.

"What do you think you're _doing_? Are you _stupid_ or something?" Andrea screamed at the top of her lungs, taking a swipe at Frank with her fists. Jon was trying to prevent Andrea from falling off her broom, as well as from hitting Frank. Patti was trying to get a hold of Frank's broom from the back, while all his attention was on Andrea.

Looking at Frank I lost it. In his hands was one of my cats. Not just any cat but _my_ cat, my familiar. (Okay...so technically familiars don't really exist. So what? It's like my cat knows what I'm thinking, so he's as good as one!) In his hands was Midnite, a black male cat with one hell of a fighting personality.

"That is it! _All_ of you freeze where you are," I didn't even remember taking my wand out of my pocket let alone aiming it up at my friends. "Shut up now and hit the ground, and if _you_ so much as _try_ and drop _my_ cat you're dead _Frank_," I said before any of them could even say one vowel.

I watched as they came slowly to the ground. Jon had let go of Andrea slowly; I think he was slightly unsure of what she would do. I didn't blame him; sometimes Andrea was even rebellious against one of us as she was to others. Walking up to them once they completely were standing on the ground, I went up and punched Frank hard in the shoulder. I realized then that he had taken his jacket off.

"What were you thinking taking my _poor_ cat up there?" I cried. I knew I wasn't going to get a legitimate answer out of him so scowling at him one last time I looked at Midnite, my poor little cat. As I went to reach to get him, Frank stepped back trying to keep him away from me.

"Hey! I asked you if I could have one of your cats and you said that I couldn't have any of _them_, except _this_ one! And this _is_ that one." He looked so smug with his little declaration of idiocy.

"No I didn't. I told you, you could have any of them _but_ Midnite. But do you listen? _No_ of course not. And why the _hell_ would you take it up on a _broom_? Oh, never mind; I _don't_ want to know. Now give me back my cat before you regret it," I said, trying to stay calm. 'Trying' being the key term here, as I was failing horribly.

"Nope, sorry not handing him over. He's mine," he said, walking back about two steps. Fine if he wants to play that game, so be it.

"Midnite," I said softly but firmly. As soon as I said his name, Midnite bit Frank hard on the arm, drawing blood.

"OW!!" Franks screamed, loosening his arms enough to allow Midnite to jump out of them.

I tried not to laugh at the look of shock on his face as he held his arm against him. Seriously, did he think that I didn't train my sweet cat, let alone put that training into good use? Feeling Midnite rub against my leg I bent down to pick him up.

"Honestly I don't care why you think he was yours, but it _better_ not happen again for your sake," I said, nodding to them and walking back to the papers I had brought. Seeing Jen walk into the clearing right then, she looked kind of confused.

"What…." She started to ask but I cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. They're going to go back to playing right guys?" I asked looking back at the others. They nodded their heads in agreement and took to the air once again. Sitting down I placed Midnite in my lap, where he immediately curled up, purring. Taking the papers, I set them in front of me. As I started to rummage through them I felt, rather then saw, Jen sit down next to me. She reached over and started to pet Midnite behind the ears. As I heard the normal background noises of Quidditch, I picked up the top newspaper clipping on the pile. The first article came from the _National Inquirer_.

_**DEATH EATERS STRIKE IN THE UNITED STATES**_

_Investigators believe that this might actually prove to be the very last Death Eater attack the Wizarding and Muggle world will ever see. The attack happened on 12 June, in the small town of Tenia, Ohio. "Though we believe this, we are still looking into what happened and why here of all places to attack. We have no reason to believe that they attacked without purpose, but one can only hope when dealing with the likes of these Dark Wizards," said Chris Harley the local investigator in this matter. After trying to question him further as to what leads they might have to the small faction of escaped Death Eaters, he refused to comment anymore._

_Once the fighting had finally ended about forty Death Eaters were captured or dead on scene. Those that were found alive are now in custody and will be tried through the courts of their own countries governments. They attacked just before dusk and ended well after dark. One witness says that they saw about five or six Death Eaters enter a house that belongs to Mr. Mark Martin, one of the top agents in the American Magical Government._

"_I was in the thick of the fighting but I saw enough of what happened around that house. There were two Death Eaters just standing outside of the house not fighting, just watching. One was an adult, but the other one was just a kid. My fighting was bringing me more towards the house. When I had looked back over at them they were going inside the place accompanied by about three or four others. I didn't know there was anyone in the house so I didn't think anything of it at the time. But when I started hearing the screaming coming from inside I tried to get over there as soon as I could. But as you know I was knocked out before I could get over there," said Enrique White, one of the only partial witnesses to the attempted kidnapping/killing of Alexandrea Martin, age five. Investigators still aren't sure as to the Death Eaters means, motivation, or outcome with the little girl was._

As I read, I started to remember segments of what had happened that night. I remember waking up in the arms of my dad as he sat in the back of the ambulance. (It was a modified ambulance—the local Wizarding hospital had a small fleet of them, painted violently yellow and with hand-rung bells over the front cabs) Reporters asking me questions from all sides as to what happened, cameras flashing all around me...it sucked. Sitting in a room being question by who I found out later where both agents that worked with dad and, those that were from other international magical governments. Dad having to explain to me that the people that came into our home had escaped. Being told that we were to be moving to someplace new before I started First Grade, so that the family would be safe.

Sighing I looked up at where my friends were in time to see Jon score the winning point against the girls. I hadn't seen both boys this happy since they pranked all four of us girls last Halloween. They had gone to get our costumes for us as we where in charge of setting up the Rec. Hall. We had just finished setting up the decorations, music (thanks to a magical xylophone), sound effects, and scary stuff…Andrea not included as a decoration or "scary stuff" mind you. Walking up to Andrea, Patti, and my room to change, the costume boxes were laying on our beds except that Jen's was on window seat. Opening them we found that not only were they not our costumes but well…they were just wrong.

The boys had pranked us big time, making those outfits the sluttiest (or what Andrea claimed that night the skankiest) things ever created. I was supposed to be a fallen angel, Andrea a pirate, Jen a cat, Patti a...well...I couldn't tell what Patti's outfit looked like before (she was suppose to be a vampire with Andrea's help. Though this…), but right then it looked like something a dancer would wear in a strip club. Actually all our outfits except Jen's, looked like they belonged to an employee of a strip club.

Though, with my many high morals I really could have killed both boys. I wouldn't do a lot of things others did because I've seen what the outcome is, but because of my morals my friends (though they have only admitted it real recently) have been telling me that I basically live a sheltered life. I don't understand them some times; really I don't believe I live a sheltered life, I'm just cautious when it comes to certain things. Who wouldn't be if they saw or lived half of my life?

We had decided to wear the outfits as is, but of course pay the boys back later for their generosity by changing our outfits. When we had gotten back to the Rec. Hall the boys were standing off to the side talking and not paying attention. They were dressed as pimps…what else would they have been dressed as with what they did to our costumes? By the end of the night, after the boys had stopped smiling (like the idiots they were) and laughing their heads off, or in Frank's case trying to be stupid and mess with us, they had wound up stripped of most of their clothes (the bare minimum), shoved into separate closets across the hall from each other, and of course locked in them for about six hours or so. Any longer, and the teachers would have noticed their absences. We had put silencing charms on both closets so that they couldn't get help or talk to each other.

"You cheated. You so cheated." Patti ranted as they touched the ground and walked over to where Jen and I were sitting. "You guys saw them. Tell them they were _cheating_," she said, looking at us, but held her arms out to the boys pointing at them.

I looked at Jen then back at Patti trying not to laugh at her childishness. "Patti, I'm sorry, but I was reading and really didn't see anything. Sorry," I said, shrugging and moving Midnite slightly because my legs felt numb from not moving around and from him laying on them.

"Sorry, but I wasn't paying attention either. I was thinking about some things," Jen said, leaning back against the tree. She answered before either girl could ask her as well.

"Ha! See you can't prove your point," said Frank, grinning like a fool sitting down next to me, still looking up at both girls.

"Fine whatever, we want a rematch. There is just no way you guys could have won. Seriously you must have _cheated_." Andrea ranted sitting down across from me trying to stay as far away from Frank as she could. She really hated to lose. At anything. When I feel braver about it (and the nightmares finally stop) I'll tell you all about the night when she kept losing at Parcheesi.

Jon looked at Frank then sat down on the other side of Jen. Reaching across her he picked Midnite up out of my lap, setting him into his own. "Actually I think seeming on how we never beat you, well…I think we will retire as undefeated," he said matter-of-factly.

Both girls made an exasperated sound, but not before they both could whack the boys upside their heads with their brooms. Watching this I couldn't help it but laugh at Frank and Jon's expressions. Really, I couldn't help it, it was funny. It's not like the other girls weren't laughing as well. Jon looked slightly taken aback that someone would harm him with a broom. Frank just looked shocked, probably because he didn't see it coming. Seeing me laugh must have irritated Frank because the next thing I knew I was being pinched in the side. _Hard_.

"OW! Why you…" I started to say, but was cut off by him pinching me again.

I was just about to hit him in the arm when I saw two brown owls flying towards us. Each owl was carrying two letters a piece. The others apparently didn't see them at first, they were all still laughing and I could see Frank trying to get a better angle to pinch me once again. I grabbed his hand, preventing his actions as the owls landed right in the middle of the circle we made. Once they had landed, the other's laughter finally died down. As I looked I could see the names written on each letter. Scrawled a crossed each one where the names: _Patricia Jones, Franklyn Flynn, Jonathan Sherramm, and Jennifer Sweirs. _

As each of my friends took there letters, Midnite was watching the birds with slight interest. He really didn't care to chase birds anymore, not after he was attached by a crow, but he still liked to look. It's kind of like when married men liked to look at nineteen year old girls. Looking over Frank's shoulder I saw that it was a Hogwarts letter. Snatching it out of his hands, I began to read it.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL_

_of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, _

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Flynn,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a foreign exchange student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

Minerva McGonagall

_Deputy Headmistress _

"What the heck?" Andrea demanded, fairly ripping the letter from my hands. "What is up with this? You guys are transferring too? At this rate, no one's gonna be left to prank the Academy!"

"I didn't think so," said Jen in amazement, re-reading her letter. "Maybe...because we're here already..."

"I bet our parents did it!" Patti fumed. "I bet they all got together and said, 'Gee, let's send our kids with the Martins' for the summer, and not tell them we've transferred them to a safer school until they get their letters!' or something!"

"Why would Hogwarts be safer?" asked Frank unsurely.

"Because Dumbledore's still the Headmaster, duh!" Andrea snapped. "It's the anniversary of that Death Eater attack—they're probably afraid they'll try something again. God...parents _suck_...and don't you _dare_ pun what I just said, Jon," she suddenly growled, glaring at Jon, who had been about to say something witty about Andrea's father really 'sucking' because of his vampiric tendencies.

"Children. Children. Play nice now." I said, looking from Andrea to Jon. "Anyway, I think Patti's right on this one…at least to a point." I looked at Andrea quickly. "Sorry, I swear I didn't mean anything by that." I apologize before she could get mad at me too, not like she would anyway. She knows I get like this every once in a while when I haven't had much sleep and Frank's muttering nasty innuendo's under his breath that only I could hear. "Did you ever wonder that maybe seeming on how all our parents work together at AMG, that maybe your parents got transferred to the Ministry as well as my parents?" I looked from one face to the other. I knew they were contemplating the possibility that what I said might be right. So I said the one thing that made sense, or at least to me. "Think about it guys. Why else would my dad allow Jon and Frank to be living here for the summer? _Hello_ my dad who owns twenty million guns and doesn't completely like either of them. Really it makes sense," I stated.

Ok maybe my dad doesn't really own twenty million guns, but he does own enough to scare anyone out of their wits. I kind of lost track about a year ago when it was last twenty-five, I think. No one said a word. All they did was look from one person to the other or read back through their letters to make sure there was no mistake.

Well, it seemed that Andrea and I weren't the only ones that were going to be attending Hogwarts this coming year. I feel sorry for the students and faculty of Hogwarts already. For now they will have to deal with us, the poor things.


	4. Chapter 3

**Jinxeh:** Yes...I spent an hour and a half beta'ing this chapter. _Learn proper grammar_, Punkette! GAH! (tears her own hair out) That said...whatever. Get the next chapter to me soon. Enjoy the chapter, guys!

**Punkette:** God I love my friends. They're the best (even when they pull their hair out do to dealing with me every day). Well? Do as she says and enjoy the chapter! Oh, and …yeah don't forget to review. Have fun kids.

Chapter 3: To Hogwarts We Finally Go

It was the night before we where all suppose to board the train for Hogwarts, our new school. I was reading in the one room that was considered the study, office, and library. Jon, Patti, and Jen were playing Coffeehouse Blackjack in the corner. (A game that Patti and I created a couple years back. It was a game that combined normal Blackjack and Truth or Dare. Only you could only tell the truth; no dares.) Frank was sitting at my dad's desk reading a car magazine. Andrea was, of course, typing away at some story on her laptop, like always.

At some point about a week ago, we had all gotten tired of her winning and screaming making threats about her poor precious laptop. Do to that we just decided to leave it somewhere randomly; in the _hopes_ that she would find it and shut up.

The past couple of weeks, since the others had received their letters, were spent like what was considered normal for us. Everyone but Jen and I playing Quidditch, lounging around, plotting deaths, (well that's Andrea for you; just can't ever be normal) and, of course, the pranks. Andrea had woken up one morning about a week ago to find all her clothes turned neon pink. _The poor little vampire girl._ The other pranks consisted of certain articles of clothing cut in obscene places, skin changing shampoos, potions mixed in with drinks, and in _my_ case—speaking chipmunk for two days. Thank God my parents weren't home much those two days.

This was all thanks to the parentals for agreeing to let everyone stay at my house. Not that I don't blame them at all for having them stay here until school started. They all had different reasons, too. Their parents had already said their good byes this morning, as well as mine. Both mom and dad had said that they were going to be working late tonight and that they wouldn't be back till about five and were not getting up until noon. Seriously you would think that they loved their daughter more. Okay...okay...so I know they love me...but really, their new jobs are practically killing them!

The day after everyone else had received their letters, we had gone to Diagon Alley to get all our supplies for the coming year. _Yay, school, why can't summer be longer than the school year? I think it would make a lot of people happy. Well…except maybe the few people that basically live and breathe for school. Personally, I think that is just…wrong. _

I still hadn't told any of my friends that I had received a letter from the Headmaster a couple of days ago. It basically said that we were to get into the first two carriages after getting off the train. Then we were to wait in front of the hall until a Professor came to get us. Further instructions would then be given to us.

"What's this I hear, Patti?" I heard Frank ask as I looked up at him. He had just sat his magazine down on the table. "Breaking into an abandoned school building? I can't _believe_ that you would do such a thing!" He said, in mock seriousness. He had obviously just heard something Patti had said while she and the others played Coffeehouse Blackjack.

I looked over at Jen, Patti, and Jon, then, out of the corner of my eyes, at Andrea. All Andrea did was look up for a split second in acknowledgement of what was said, but she never hesitated in her typing and went back to it a moment later. She practically lived for her writing. A psychologist from the American Ministry—who had been the first one to observe Andrea after the incident with her father—said that she used writing as an outlet for all of her emotions, instead of talking about them like other people. It certainly explains why all of her characters have psychological problems, and why she's always making them suffer. Her writing terrifies me sometimes.

Turning back to Patti, I watched her carefully. The only people that knew about the school building that Patti was talking about were us girls; the boys were never told. Patti and I were the ones that had gone into the place a couple of times. We had tried to get Andrea and Jen to go only once. Andrea wouldn't (the place freaked her out—which is weird, considering how freaky _she_ is), but Jen was going to, but it never happened.

Frank was trying to look all superior with his arms crossed and a sardonic grin on his face. Patti spared one glance at me before turning back to Frank, scowling.

"What are you _talking_ about? I never broke into anyplace. Not that I wouldn't _want_ to, but still..." She said, probably hoping that he would drop it. Besides the pranking and retaliation for them, there really hadn't been any fights since the letters.

Setting my book down, I got up and walked to Frank carefully.

"Frank why does it matter? If you're trying to pick a fight, then just leave. None of us need it tonight, _ok_? We all have to get up early and leave for the train station," I said, calmly but forcefully.

Frank just looked at me, and then nodded.

"Fine, but I want to know tomorrow," he said, getting up and heading towards the living room.

God for a kid that's older then I am, he sure acts like he's four at times. I looked back at the three people, still looking at were Frank had just been. I shook my head and looked over at Andrea.

"Hey you might want to not stay up 'til three in the morning like always. 'Cuz if I have to get you up tomorrow, I _swear_ I'm going to make you ride with Frank to the station in the morning," I said, in a threatening manner.

Andrea looked up at the slight threat. "You wouldn't _dare_," she whispered. At one point in her life, she had dated Frank. It lasted a full day. She couldn't take it. She didn't like relationships. _Though, I swear that by the end of that dreadful day…Andrea was close to draining him of his blood and killing him right there. The only reason that didn't happen was because it was Frank's blood and she wanted nothing to do with it._

"With how I feel right now, I would dare a _lot_. So just do it, ok?" I asked, yawning slightly. We both basically stared at each other for a time until Andrea realized I wasn't kidding in the slightest. Nodding, Andrea closed down her laptop got up and left to her room. Normally she didn't listen to me, so it was a bit of a surprise. In other words, she was already tired and wanted to go to bed anyways, so she'd pretend I won this one. Stifling another yawn, I looked at the remaining three people. "Why don't you guys get some sleep too? It's almost ten thirty."

The others nodded without hesitation. Patti and Jen left to go to bed in their shared room. Jon was left putting the cards away. "Jon? Can we talk please?" I asked, looking out the door to the living room, where Frank sat on the couch.

"Yeah sure, but I thought you wanted us all to go to bed?" he asked me, trying not to laugh. I knew he was joking around. It was what I wanted, but I also wanted to talk to him. All I did was shake my head at him, trying not to smile at the stupidity of it all.

"Come on. We can talk in my room seeming on Frank wont be up there for a bit," Jon said, already walking towards the stairs.

As we walked past Jen and Patti's room you could hear them laughing and talking. I could hear snatches of what was said.

"I know! He was so _cute_..."

"Yeah, can you _believe_ we aren't going to be going…"

"…though I love our old school to pieces…a change would be _nice_."

I could hear Jon chuckling under his breath. It seemed I wasn't the only one that heard.

Looking towards Andrea's room, I could still see a light on. I walked over and tapped lightly on the door. "Get off the computer and get some sleep for once," I said, opening the door and turning her light off for her.

"Hey! You aren't my _mother_ Ali. I can go to bed whenever I want," Andrea said, as I started to shut the door.

Shaking my head I started to walk into her room slightly. "Ok. I might not be your mother, but I refuse to spend the first day of school with a grumpy, ill tempered, evil vampire. Now if I were you, I'd go to bed because the next thing I will do is shut the electricity off. And if you had checked your battery on that thing more you would realize that your battery is almost dead. Now good night!" I said, walking out and shutting the door hard.

At times like these, I _just_ couldn't deal with her. And to think I'm actually not that mad, just frustrated.

"Fine. I'm going to bed, _mother Ali_," Andrea grumbled from the other side of the closed door.

I cringed at the last statement. The evil nickname was a horrible reminder of things past. I used to call my sister that all the time before she died. I was about four and a half; she had barely been six. She had died in a car crash—she had been with a muggle friend, whose mother had been driving. The mother and her daughter had been okay, but not my sister—, but before then she would always try and act like my mom. I would always call her mother Mikki whenever she was like that. The difference between then and now was I had a real mom, and though mine is the closest thing to a mom for Andrea, she really didn't have one.

As I turned around to face Jon a tear escaped my eye. I never made a sound or said a word, all I did was wiped it away and faced him. He was leaning against his bedroom's closed door, his arms crossed. He was still smiling at me acting as if he heard nothing that was said between Andrea and me.

"I wonder what guy Patti was talking about," Jon said, stepping away from the door. "Have any ideas?" He asked, while opening the door. I liked not having to talk about stuff when I don't feel like it. I laughed at his question as I walked into the room. Jon was treating me like one of the guys and for once it didn't bother me.

The boy's room looked exactly like the girls, except for the colors, posters, and...well...anything to make it look like a guy's room, I suppose. I figured that they were going to take the posters down tomorrow, before we left. The room was done in forest green. One bedspread was smoky gray in color, the other a deep blue. I was sitting on the gray bed, which just happened to be Franks'. _Lucky me._ Jon was sitting across from me on his own.

"You wanted to talk?" Jon prodded lightly.

"Yeah, um…I got a letter form Dumbledore a few days back with mild instructions about what is going to go on tomorrow and...well, I kind of need your help," I said, biting my lip slightly. If I didn't get his help in this, then we're screwed on catching the train tomorrow.

"I'm listening," was all he said, leaning forward slightly.

"Well for one there's this thing about the school Houses. You know Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. I just…I'm worried that if we're all split up...well, things would change. You know?"

"Well, if we're all split up there really isn't anything we can do about that. But our friendships probably won't change. If they do, it won't be much. If you think about it, most of us would probably have at least one other person. Right?" He said, looking at me seriously.

"I guess you're right, but that doesn't stop me from worrying slightly. I just…" I was cut off by the door opening.

Looking up, I saw Frank walking in.

"Um…I thought you said that we were to get some sleep? Why are you in here anyway?" He looked from one of us to the other.

"Oh, you know I meant what I said, I just wanted to talk to Jon for a bit," I said, not moving at all from where I was.

"Well, if you're done…"

"Well, I'm _not_. If you're that worried about your sleep, then go sleep in my room," He started to say something, but I cut him off again." Just _do_ it, please?"

I was shocked when I saw him go over to his dresser, grab some clothing, and then just leave.

"Okay...that was weird. I feel bad for whoever gets stuck in the same house as him," I said, shaking my head at the closed door. "Anyway, there's another thing I'm worried about. There's also a thing about _no electronics_ allowed at Hogwarts. Well...they won't work there, anyways. And its not that any of _you_ guys would put up a fight over the fact, except _Andrea_..."

"Yeah. I agree with you on that one. So what are we to do about it then?"

"Well, we could…." I started to tell him my plan and, for the next forty-five minutes or so, we went over all the details. All Jon had to do was inform the others about it in the morning. _God help us if this didn't work._ By the time we ironed out all the details we were both so tired that the next thing I knew, I had crashed and burned on the bed.

When I woke the next morning, it took me a moment to realize that I had fallen asleep in Frank's bed while talking to Jon. I couldn't even remember what time it was when we had finally stopped talking. Slowly, I got up and looked outside. It was still dark out, so we still had plenty of time...well except certain people that left their stuff all over the place. Yawning, I looked over at a still sleeping Jon. The covers were completely wrapped around him, from head to toe.

Stretching, I headed towards the door. Opening it carefully, as not to wake him, I walked down the hall to my room to check on the time. We had to get to the station and on the train by eleven, or we were stuck here. We really didn't have much of a drive to get there but the last-minute packing may take some time. Opening the door I could see Frank dead asleep in my bed. _I swear, he better have pants on or I just might kill him._

Looking at the clock, I could see that it was about six forty-five. Walking over to the clock, I shut the alarm off. Not caring whether I woke up Mr. Drama Queen, I started to pack what little I had left out. Satisfied with that, I grabbed my wand and went downstairs to feed Midnite and Dustball. Dustball was the cat that Frank had chosen to take to Hogwarts. Dustball was a two-month-old male tabby cat, and son to Midnite.

After feeding the cats, I went about getting their cages ready. I had basically told them yesterday that if they wanted breakfast today, they were going to have to make it themselves. By the time I was done with that, it was seven-sixteen. Sighing, I went back up stairs to get the others up. Knocking on Patti and Jen's room door, I waited for someone to answer, which was a very disgruntled Jennifer. Opening the door wider, she stepped aside to show a still sleeping Patti.

"Will you _please_ get her up and then go and get Jon up as well?" I asked, already turning around to go get Andrea up.

"Don't you mean Jon _and_ Frank?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"Nope. I crashed in their room and Frank crashed in mine. So I'll be waking him up," I said, over my shoulder as I entered Andrea's room. Making her door slam against the wall I started to grin. _If today isn't going to be easy, then why not have some fun along the way? _It took a little while for my eyes to adjust to the pitch-black darkness. "Chica! Time to get up," I said, walking over and hitting her foot. Like Jon, she was completely engulfed inside of her covers. The only thing I could make out slightly was maybe a few strands of pink hair, though even that much was hard to make out.

The next thing I know, her covers were half off her, her arm hanging in the air, and I was feeling a pillow graze my cheek and hitting the wall across the hall. She had not only missed her target but had over-thrown as well. _Really do I need to teach her the basics of throwing objects at people when they're being annoying_?

"I'm up, I'm _up_," she said, slowly raising up in bed, bleary-eyed and frustrated. "And just so you know, you _aren't_ Spanish and what little you know sucks _badly_."

"Just get up and get packed, will you? Oh, and I never _said_ I was good at Spanish. Heck I'm not even _decent_. You know that as well as I do. Hence, my failing grade in Spanish class would verify that fact. Now get up." I had already turned around, leaving the door open, and walking down the hall to my room before she could say one more word. _Now to get Frank up. Oh joy._

By the time I had finally managed to kick Frank out of my room and had gotten dressed, it was already eight thirty. Once I rechecked that I had everything packed, I finally picked up my bag and trunk and took them downstairs. Leaving my luggage in the hall with everyone else's, I went over and took Andrea's laptop out and placed it in the closet. The first part of Jon and mine's plan was complete. Once that was done, I went to see what everyone was up to.

Walking into the kitchen, I saw that everyone else was there. Frank sat at the table playing with Dustball with a laser light. Andrea was probably downing her third cup of coffee by now. _I swear, half her blood stream must be made of coffee by now. Seriously. _Patti stood behind Jen, trying to put the girl's hair into a French Braid (and with how thick Jen's hair was, it was far from being an easy task). Jon was the only one that was actually eating anything.

"Ok, um…so is everyone sure they have everything they need?" I asked, trying not to sound like a mother hen. But I _so_ didn't need my parents finding anything they shouldn't have after we all leave. After seeing everyone shake his or her head in consent, I knew that the really hard part had yet to come.

"Good. Now there is a slight change of things with Hogwarts that we didn't have with the Academy. No electronic equipment can work at Hogwarts. So anything of the sort: cellular phones, game boys, pagers, CD player and radios must be left here," I told them carefully.

I had deliberately left out Andrea's laptop. I wanted to make sure everything else was in either Patti's or Jon's cars before telling her. I had deliberately said it in a rush, as well—I knew that even if Andrea had downed three cups of coffee or so by now, she probably still wasn't completely awake and probably hadn't heard a single thing that I had said. When I glanced over to her, I saw to my relief that I was right; judging from her tired expression and the way she was looking down at her mug with her eyes almost closed, she hadn't even been listening. Good.

Going over and getting some ice tea out to drink, I saw Jon and Frank leave to get all of their electronic stuff out of their bags. I didn't have to worry about Jen because while staying here she had borrowed my CD's and radios every once in a while. After getting some ice tea and pouring a glass, I walked over to Patti.

"Hey, why don't you let me do that so that you can get _certain things_ out of your stuff?" I asked, leaning in so that only Patti and Jen could hear me, as well as inspect Jen's hair.

"Yeah, sure. I guess French Braids don't really work well with her hair huh? Sorry Jen, I tried," she said, apologetically. Then glancing at Andrea for a second she looked back at me. "What about…"

Before she could say any more, I cut her off.

"Just go and help the boys, will you please?" I asked, loud enough for Andrea to hear. Then, whispering once again, "Jon will explain once you get out there. Just _don't_ ask me," I said, already going about fixing Jen's hair.

Patti looked at me oddly, but left anyway. I heard the coffeepot being moved back behind me.

"Why don't you do us all a favor and just pour that into a mug? We need to get going as soon as we can," I said, looking back over my shoulder at a frozen Andrea about to pour more coffee into her cup.

"Oh, fine, but I'm taking two mugs," she mumbled, already reaching into the cabinet above her head. She took out one normal coffee mug to drink on our ride to the station and also a black thermos to store some extra for the train.

Once done with Jen's hair, I tapped her shoulder and pointed towards the hall.

"Can you go help the others get the stuff loaded into the cars, please?" I asked, trying to get everything done so we only had to worry about Andrea. _God help us all if she is in a bad mood today. One can only hope that we'll come out unscathed from what's about to happen. _Jen nodded and walked out of the room, leaving only Andrea and I left in the kitchen.

I took the plate that Jon had left, knowing that he wasn't going to come back and finish it any time soon. I placed it into the sink. Taking the list off of the counter, that I had left there yesterday, I went and sat down at the table across from Andrea. I was waiting for Jon to come back and give me the OK that everything was set to go and that everything electronic was gone.

Andrea sat there, flipping through a magazine from Hot Topic (you could only get them if you've tried to buy everything in the store every time you went there. Like Andrea has.) when Jon walked in and leaned against the frame of the door.

"We should be leaving now, you know," he said, looking from me to Andrea. I looked over at the clock. We had about fifteen minutes to get into the car, still. More time than I thought we would have had. Andrea and Jen were to be riding with Patti, while I rode with the boys in Jon's car. Later, my parents said they would apparate to the train station and pick up the cars for us, then bring them back to my house. It was interesting enough just transporting them to London in the first place.

"Ok, let's get going. Oh, and Andrea, I had the others put your stuff in one of the cars," I said, as we headed out the kitchen door. Folding the list and placing it into my pocket, Andrea and I put our sunglasses on. I wore sunglasses just because it was bright outside—Andrea wore them because her eyes hurt when in the sun too much. Andrea was heading over to Frank, while I stayed back to talk to Jon quietly.

"How much do you bet she's asking where her stuff is?" Jon asked me while still looking at Andrea. He sounded nervous, as he had a right to be. Since Hogwarts magic screwed with electrical appliances, we knew that Andrea couldn't take her laptop. But we also knew that she would throw an absolute fit if she found that out to. Like said before, writing is her life. I thought that if we could already be on our way to the train station by the time she figured out that her laptop was left behind, then it might be better for us.

"Ha! You're _joking_ right? When have you ever known me to take bets? Well…other then for clothes or for kicks. And with you I can always tell its going to be for money. So no," I said, giving him an evil knowing grin. "Anyway I say she's trying to find out if anyone went snooping through her stuff." Looking at the exchange between Andrea and Frank I knew I was right to some point. I could tell she was starting to figure things out really quickly. "So anyway, did you inform the others? 'Cuz if you did then I think its time we got started and get it over with or we will be late."

"Yeah, I told them," Jon said, nodding to Patti and Jen. Seeing the nodding, Jen went to shut the house door, and then scampered into the front seat of Patti's car. Patti had moved around the car that Andrea and Frank were talking beside, so that she could get behind her if necessary. Jon moved off to my side, so that he was about half way between Andrea and the house.

_Let the games begin._

"Andrea! Come on, we have to get going! So step away from the boy _slowly_ and _carefully_. Then get into the back of the car," I joked in a police like manner.

"Not until he tells me if he went through my stuff and where it is!" Andrea said, not backing away from him but actually advancing towards him.

_Damn. Guess she'll have to find out about it now..._

"Tie," I said, to Jon, whom I could see nodding absently out of the corner of my eye. "Andrea, lets not start this ok? _I'm_ the one that took your laptop out of your bag, and put it somewhere, _not_ Frank. If you want to get up close and personal with anyone, then it had better be me." I stood my ground looking straight at her.

She slowly turned around and faced me.

"_You_ took it? _Why_?" she was far enough away from Frank that he was able to move towards Jon's car. _So far so good…I think._ She was advancing towards me slowly. "_Tell me were it is_," she said, clenching and unclenching her hands.

"Um...let me think about that one…uh no." during the whole time I was talking, I had watched her carefully, so when she lunged for me I was able to dodge her for the most part. Somehow she was able to scratch me across my left cheek. I could tell that some of the marks were starting to bleed. _Crap._

Andrea got like this sometimes. The psychologist had said that sometimes she wasn't able to bottle up her anger, and so sometimes she resorted to physical violence in order to solve her problems. So really, her trying to jump her friends was nothing new, and nothing to be entirely concerned about.

At some point as I dodged away from her, Patti and Jon had started to intervene. For the next thing I saw when looking up to see where Andrea was, she was on one knee with both Patti and Jon holding her there by her arms. We all knew this wouldn't last very long, though. I walked over to where I could stand in front of her, blocking her way to the house.

"Andrea, I'm _sorry_, but you can't take it with you. For one, it wouldn't work. The worse that could happen to your laptop is that the system could _fry_ while going through the wards. Who knows? I _really_ don't think you want to take that chance, do you?" I asked, looking her carefully.

Though she nodded in understanding, she still tried to fight her way out of their grasps.

"Always the hard way with you," I said to Andrea while nodding to the other two.

Slowly they forced her up until she was standing. As they started to drag her back away from the house and towards the cars, she started to fight harder.

"I want my laptop! I can make it work at Hogwarts, I _know_ I can. _Let me go_!" she shouted the last part through gritted teeth.

She was fighting so hard that both Patti and Jon had to stop to get a better grip on her. It took me pushing on her shoulders to get everyone moving again. Somehow, we got her back up towards Patti's car. As I got a hold of Andrea's arm, Patti had let go to open the door back behind Andrea and went around in order to get in and start the car. Once she was done child-proofing the back doors so that they couldn't be opened from the inside, both Jon and I not only had let go of Andrea, but also had shoved her into the car, shutting the door behind her.

As Jon walked to his car, which was behind Patti's, I went to Jen's open window.

"Andrea, just calm _down_. You can still write your stories at Hogwarts. They'll just have to be on paper is all." I rapped once on the hood of the car then went to go pick up my backpack, which was still on the porch. After getting it, I headed over to Jon's car. Frank was already sitting in the front seat, so I went to get into the back. As I watched Patti's car pull out, I could hear Andrea's muffled cries for her laptop, as well see her throwing a fit in the back seat. She was pounding on the back window, looking at the house and nothing else.

_Yep. Today is to be a very long day indeed, _I thought as I got into the back of Jon's car.

We had just gotten everything loaded onto carts to go through the barrier when I looked at the clock on the wall at the station. We only had about fifteen minutes to get through the barrier and onto the train. _Joy._ Andrea had finally stopped brooding and plotting my early death. Lucky for me, I had some of that healing ointment in my bag. The scratches from before, on my face, were already gone. "Ok, so now where do we go?" Jen asked, looking around at the crowded station.

"Well they said it was platform nine and three quarters right? So let's go looking for it," Frank said, already heading past platforms six and seven.

I looked at my remaining friends, and then shrugged. _With his dumb luck he'll probably run right into it. _Low and behold, just as Frank turned around to start talking to us, not paying attention to where he was going, he slammed right into the wall between platforms nine and ten...only there was no _slam_. Two seconds later, he vanished. We all just burst into laughter, even little Miss Grumpy Vampire.

"Well, I guess we found the barrier to get to the platform, huh?" I asked, to no one in particular.

Our laughter had caught the attention of quite a few people, and half of them just kept staring. It was nothing out of the normal for us. It wasn't like we were wearing robes in front of them, it was just us being us. One bored-looking girl, two normally dressed people, one prep (well in my case just dressed like one), and one wearing enough weird stuff to be a walking ad for Hot Topic or some other bizarre place. It's hard to find people that dressed like we do hanging out in America, but in London we'd already seen a few. Andrea was pretty happy about that. Though, I guess to some degree it was still slightly weird here in London even.

"Hey! You got a _starin'_ problem, friend?" Andrea hissed to a guy in about his mid twenties. "'Cuz if yeh' are, go stare _somewhere_ else!" As she said the last three words, she started to glare at everyone else that was looking at us.

The rest of us just stood there, looking on in amusement. Finally, everyone that had stopped and looked at us had gone back to his or her own business. It only lasted a minute, if that. But it had seemed longer. Walking over to the barrier, we just stood around it, talking as if nothing was different. Jon and Andrea were leaning slightly against it. Taking one last look around to make sure the coast was clear, I nodded for them to go through, never breaking stride in my conversation with Patti and Jen.

Once they were gone, we moved around so that Patti and Jen were against the barrier this time. Patti had to check to see if the coast was clear, seeing as my back was to everyone. The moment they went through, I turned my back slightly to the barrier. Taking out the piece of paper from earlier in the kitchen, I acted as if I was trying to figure out which train I was to get on, the time, and which platform. Though in actuality I was covering my butt from being found out.

I was through within a matter of seconds, sighing with mild relief that I didn't have to deal with secrets of any kind magical for the moment. I had about five minutes to get on the train. _Great, just great._ Shouldering my backpack and grabbing Midnite's cat carrier; I drug my trunk to the Hogwarts Express. I actually was quite impressed with it. I had only been on a train once, when I was little, but that was the subway under Cleveland, in America.

"Ali! Come on. Here I'll take Midnite and your bag for you," Jen said, suddenly appearing in front of me.

"Thanks," I said, handing over the cage and shrugging the pack off and helping her get it on. That done I picked my trunk back up, and followed her down the hallway inside the train. When we finally got there and slid open the compartment door, all you could here was laughter.

"What did I miss? Besides everyone but Jen helping me with my stuff? Seriously..." I said exasperatedly, putting my trunk away in the last available space.

"Oh nothing much really. And sorry about not helping," Jon said, still trying not to laugh.

About half of the ride to Hogwarts was spent either talking, playing games, drawing with charcoal in a sketchpad (in Andrea's case—she was pretty good at it, but she didn't do it often, preferring to write), reading (in my own case), and/or anything that struck anyone at the moment. I had spent most of that time sitting next to the window to the left of Frank, reading and trying to ignore him at the same time. We had let the cats out of their cages. Andrea's cat, Cupid, was going to be sent later by my parents, as we hadn't thought that there would have been enough room in the cars for another animal.

By the time the trolley came to our compartment, everyone was hungry. So, sitting around and eating (and still reading, in my case) everyone started to throw food from one person to the next. All of a sudden, my book was wrenched from my hands. As I looked up as to who took it, I saw that, of course, like always, it was Frank. _Stupid dork._

"Hey, why don't you join in the talking instead of _reading_ all the time?" he asked, flipping through it. As I lunged for the book, he closed it and held it away from me. "Now, now, behave yourself, Ali. I'm not going to do _anything_ to it…yet," He said, swatting my hands away from it.

I had just realized that I was basically on his lap trying to get to my book. Fed up with it, him, and where I was at the moment, I gave in. I went back to sitting, facing him, my feet on the seat in front of me, my back against the wall across from the door.

"Fine. Now give it back," I said, my hand out as I waited for him to hand it over.

"I don't think so. I'm keeping it for now, and you'll get it back when we get _off_ the train," he said, grinning at me.

Growling at him, I turned to the others, who were trying not to laugh, be sick, or hit him like I wanted to. I decided to just leave it be; the book hadn't been _that_ interesting anyways. I sighed, and thought of something to say.

"Ok seeming on I have no choice, out of everything, what don't you miss about the Academy?" I asked everyone, as I saw Frank put my book away somewhere on the other side of him. Shooting Frank one last evil look (that basically said I was going to get him back for this) I looked at everyone expectantly.

"The stupid Martial Arts Club. Who in their right _mind_ would just be happy learning the _fundamentals_ about martial arts and not put it into practice?" Andrea said, drinking some Butterbeer. Everyone nodded to that one, except Jen. She had never been interested in that club in the first place.

"The new mandatory uniforms. Yeah, I _know_ Hogwarts has you wear them during school on the weekdays, but the Academy wanted it for the whole time we would be there. That is just _wrong_," Patti said, eating another Chocolate Frog.

I just shook my head at Patti's statement. It was very typical of her to choose that, but of course to each her own. Looking at Andrea, I nodded to one of the closed bottles of Butterbeer. Shrugging, she tossed one to me. As I took a sip, Jen made her declaration:

"Having to deal with perverted guys! They're jerks. I'm glad I never have to see or _deal_ with them _again_."

"Jen, everywhere you go, you're going to have to deal with guys like that. Hell, your _friends_ with one of them," I said, kicking Frank's knee lightly.

"Hey! I take offense to that," he said, hitting my foot away while still trying to act innocent.

"Well, you _are_ one." Patti said sweetly.

"Yeah, but still…" Frank whined, then gave his own opinion. "Well I was getting tired of pranking the same people over and over again. Its better now that I can prank people I don't even know yet."

"How about this one? Not having to take your normal muggle classes anymore. No Math, Science, or English," Jon said, eating some of the safer-colored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He had never quite been able to forget the sardine-flavored one he had eaten when he was five.

"True, but speaking of English Class...I'm so _not_ gonna miss Mrs. Foster. And you know she deserved _everything_ she got from me! The old hag..." I muttered darkly, drinking more of my Butterbeer.

"Yeah, especially after what you _did_. You did the one thing none of us would _have_." Andrea said, laughing. "You rock my socks!"

Leave it to Andrea to say, "You rock my socks".

"Wait, what did she do?" Jen asked. I had forgotten that I never told Jen, Jon or Frank about what happened. They weren't in class that day. Andrea grinned.

"Oh, you know Ali got fed up with the old bat. It was during the English Class you guys missed because of that field trip for science. Anyway, she was on her way to go sit down after talking to Mrs. Foster…I don't even remember what she said, but it had to be the last straw 'cuz Ali went and flicked her off. You know how that woman was, no one liked her and feared her for the most part. But she was mad, then! She sent Ali to the Headmaster!" I was looking out the window as she talked. I could see her out of the corner of my eyes as she looked at everyone. "She got suspended from classes and confined to our room for three days. I swear you were _completely_ unfazed when she told you to go see Headmaster Douglas!"

I wasn't afraid of that evil lady, but I didn't voice my feelings. I knew that if I did an argument was going to happen. Anyway the only teacher that ever scared me was my second grade teacher, Mr. Simmer, and the only one that might have known that was Jon, but that's because he had him too.

"Well what do you expect when she said I would never be allowed back in her class ever again? Really I knew that it would be at least a three-day suspension and at most a five-day one. No matter what one it was, it was _so_ worth it to get back at her for treating me like crap and basically forcing me to fail her class!" I said, looking back at everyone. "It was _worth_ it."

The next thing I knew, Andrea and Patti were raising their drinks.

"To Ali, the girl that doesn't care if you're a teacher or student, she'll give you whatever you deserve," Patti said, and everyone took a drink. After they drank, everyone broke out into laughter or made other comments about the teacher that we would never have to see again. All I could do was smile at the friends I had and was able to keep over the last few years. I could only hope that even if we _were_ split into separate Houses, we'd still remain friends...


	5. Chapter 4

_**Jinxeh**: I won't get in to how long this took me to beta. I just won't. Gah. A lot of my own writing can be seen in this chapter in places that it was needed. Yeah. XD. Take it away, Punkette!_

_**Punkette**: You sound like a game show announcer. Cracks up laughing at her weird, but lovable friend. Ok…ok, I'm sorry it took so long, on both things( you all know what I mean). I was preoccupied with school things, you all know how it is at times. So…yeah here it is. Enjoy till your little hearts are content. Most likely the future chapters won't be this long, so just deal with it. Don't forget to review. By Kids!_

**_Announcer_:** _All flames will be taken into consideration when read, but will be laughed at afterwards._

(You have been informed and warned. Have a nice day).

Chapter 4: Together We Stand and Divided We Fall?

As we were stepping off of the train and into the cold night, I reached for the book that Frank had put into his pocket about an hour ago on the train. Sneaking up behind him, I reached into one of his robes pockets, trying to be as careful as I could so he wouldn't notice it. _That's me; Ali the pickpocket..._ I had just gotten my fingers wrapped around my book (while trying not to trip, as we were all walking forward at the time and the ground was rather slippery) when I had looked up toward the carriages.

As the note I had received from the Headmaster had stated, there were a few carriages already there and waiting for us; but only just those few. When I looked down the road, I could see a large procession of them coming as well. The carriages already there were for the transfer students; the regular Hogwarts students were waiting on the platform for their own, still.

Of course, when my eyes slid back to the carriages that were for us, I suddenly found that it was not the carriages that I was prone to stare at anymore. There were these..._ghastly_ beasts tethered between the yolks of the stagecoach, stomping and blowing steam from their noses irately, eyeing the students walking towards them as though looking gleefully at their next meals. I had honestly never seen anything like them, nor anything quite so grotesque...

They were like horses...horses that had gone through horrendous _mutations_ anyways. Whatever fur they might have had before was gone, to be replaced by dark, thick, glossy black scales like one would see on a reptile, which clashed horrible with their blank, _awful_, seemingly sightless white eyes. They were skeletal in build, looking like they would keel over any moment from starvation, and yet there they stood, ready to pull us towards Hogwarts...

I hadn't realized I'd actually stopped in my tracks at the mere sight of them until I lost my weak grip on the book in Frank's back pocket. I blinked, realizing that my friends (and also a few students I didn't know—other new transfers, perhaps?) had gone ahead, and then hurried to catch up to them, shaking my head almost embarrassedly. Really, this shouldn't have irked me so...this wasn't the muggle world, after all. Of course there were going to be magical creatures here. Shuddering, I caught up to Patti.

"Hey! Look they don't have anything leading the carriages!" Patti said in amazement, starting to walk down the very short row of single-file carriages. "Um…which one do you guys want to get in?" She asked, stopping and turning to the rest of us. I just stared blankly at her in response, which she did not notice.

_What is she **talking** about? Can't she see these...**things**_?

"Well, _we're_ supposed to take the first _two_ carriages," I finally managed to find my voice, remembering what the letter had said. "So, I guess we will have to be split up, 'cuz they look like they will only hold four people in each one...I guess the other two here are for them..." I nodded my head towards the small group of other students, who ignored us for the most part and walked right past us. My voice sounded somewhat shaky; I had to fight the lump in my throat. Jen frowned, perhaps noticing how uneasy I was looking.

"You ok, Ali?" Jen asked, putting a hand on my shoulder and cocking her head to the side somewhat.

I nodded to her, forcing a smile onto my face. Really who could have blamed me for acting like this? They apparently couldn't see those..._beasts_... and I could. _Am I going crazy_? Then there was the fact that although I found them terrifying...I also found them quite fascinating. The fascination part was scaring me even more.

"I'm fine. Promise," I said with another, weak, smile. "Um…why don't you guys go get into the carriages and I'll be there in a second? I just need a moment..."

A small moment, I knew, because I could still see the carriages meant for the other students making their way down the drive. I could hear the annoyed grumbles coming from the main students, still on the platform as they waited for their rides.

Although they all looking at me strangely, my friends nodded, and then they turned and walked down towards the other carriages. Wrapping my arms around myself, I leaned against the stagecoach right behind me, shaking my head and bowing it so that I looked towards the ground. I really had to gather my head and keep it together here...

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes trying to calm down and get a hold of myself. I could hear someone in the background yelling for all the first years. Even if I was a bit uneasy now, I nevertheless smiled at the thought of what those little kids were going through. Some of them probably had never been away from their parents for a week, let alone a few months, if not a whole school year. That all depended on whether or not they were going to go home for Christmas break.

Finally calm enough to join the others, I opened my eyes and took a step forward so that I wasn't still leaning against the side of the carriage. Turning away from the front of the carriage, I watched as I looked around. Kids were still coming off of the train and mingling about, though they still stayed on the platform.

"They aren't really _that_ bad of a creature you know. Well, once you get to _know_ them," a male voice said behind me, nearly making me jump out of my skin right then and there.

Turning around, my eyes widened considerably, I looked at the boy to which the voice had no doubt belonged to. In front of me stood a boy about my age, if not a year or two older. The moment I came to realize that he was there...it was like Déjà vu. It's difficult to describe, really. I knew for a _fact_ that I didn't recognize him from anywhere...at least not from sight. I wasn't really sure though why it was...but I felt like I knew him, or had met him somewhere...

Maybe it was just his mere presence there on that cold night, or the vibe I was getting off of him... It felt like how some people say that they can just _feel_ someone near them without even looking at the person...and then they could also tell who that person was too, though an actual name couldn't come to mind...that's what he felt like to me. He was...confusing, to me.

Tilting my head, I studied him for a moment. He had short, spiky, dark blonde (almost rust-gold) colored hair. He stood there, in his dark, tailored robes, petting that dark _thing_ of a creature as though it was an adorable little puppy. I couldn't see the front of his robes to see which house he was from; I couldn't discern a crest. I also couldn't tell what color eyes he had do to the angle he stood to me, and the fact that he was looking at the _thing_ while talking.

"_Excuse_ me?" I asked, mildly confused on whether or not he was talking to me, since he seemed so immersed in petting the _beast_. After a moment, he looked at me out of the corner of his eye, smirking.

"You heard me. They aren't _that_ bad," he said, patting the thing one more time on the side of its neck before he turned and faced me completely. "You're not originally from here are you?" He asked curiously, that smirk still adorning his face. His accent was strange...I couldn't really place it. He might have been British, but there seemed to be something more to it as well...

Now that he was facing me fully, I could tell that his eyes were an odd shade of green, though there seemed to be some yellow in them as well. Looking over his robes, I could see that they held the Slytherin crest. _Great that's just what I need was to run into one of them._ I had heard things about that house while trying to get off the train. Apparently, no one should _really_ want to be in Slytherin. That it was were all the evil, most conniving Death Eaters were placed at Hogwarts before they became dark wizards in the war. I guess to be placed there would basically cause problems for anyone later on in life. Then again...it was a crowd of young Gryffindors saying it, so that might not have been entirely accurate...

Smiling weakly at him, I started to maneuver around him.

"Look, everyone is getting into their carriages. I think you should follow suit and do the same. I have to get to mine anyway, so if you'll excuse me..." I was already walking past him and was about five feet away from him when he spoke again.

"You still haven't answered my question," his voice followed me calmly, tinged with amusement.

Turning around halfway, I looked him over. He had gotten into the carriage I had just been leaning against, and was leaning out of the door, a strange smirk on his lips.

"Oh? And what question would that be?" I asked, feigning ignorance. I remembered his question...but his smirk freaked me out. I wasn't sure how to answer.

"The one about you possibly not being from around here," said the boy with a sudden, beaming smile. "You aren't, are you?" He asked once again, in a more mocking voice.

Anyone within their right mind, whether sane or insane, could tell that he knew very well that I wasn't from around here. It wasn't like I spoke with a British accent or anything. _What is up with this guy? Is he dense? Can he not hear the American accent practically **pouring** out of my mouth? _I suddenly grinned. _Actually, maybe I can start having my own fun a little earlier then planned. Messing with his head wouldn't really that bad would it? He's a big enough boy...he could survive it, maybe...sheesh, Andrea and Frank must be rubbing off on me..._ I looked him up and down, smirking right back at him.

"Well, if you really want an answer to that question, I guess you'll just have to _wait_, now won't you?"

With that said, and leaving the unanswered question hanging in the air, I started walking again, a certain sense of confidence in my step. Honestly, I'd been off the train for five minutes and already I was messing with the natives. Honestly. I didn't hear him say anything back, so I jogged up to the second carriage and got inside to find Jen, Patti, and Andrea already sitting down and chatting.

The moment I sat down, it started moving. Sitting with my back to the front of the carriage, I closed my eyes. I _so_ couldn't wait to get this day over with. I'd had my fun...but now that I was sitting down again, I was beginning to realize how tired I really was. After today, I was sure; everything would go back to normal. Well...as normal as things ever got for me, anyways. Quietly sitting next to Andrea, I listened to Patti and Jen's conversation.

"Yeah, can you believe them?" Patti was fuming. "They didn't want _any_ of us to sit in the same carriage as them! The jerks! I _swear_ it's like they think that if they hang around us girls too much then they'll start _becoming_ one," Patti said in a very frustrated voice.

"Well, they're _guys_. They _do_ need space to themselves to be just that. _Guys_." Jen snickered. Hearing papers moving while Jen was talking, I opened my eyes and looked down at Andrea's lap.

She had just flipped to the next page of blank paper in her sketchbook. I watched her as she started to draw something with a thick, charcoal pencil that she had had stored in her pocket. It was always interesting to watch her when she was trying to create the next creepy thing to come out of her mind as she drew it out on paper. No one could ever tell if it was going to be something as normal as her surroundings, or something darker...like what was going on in her head at the time. What was in her head was always scarier.

After a while of watching her sketching, I came to realize what she was drawing. It was one of those _things_ that were pulling the carriages! My eyes wide, I looked up at her face in alarm, my own features probably quite pale. To my shock, the concentration she was showing as she worked was absolutely staggering; her black lips were pursed (she had changed into robes, but the lipstick had remained...) and her eyes were wide and unblinking as she drew furiously on the paper. If she had her tongue sticking out between her lips, it would have completed the picture most humorously. But this wasn't humor, and I wasn't allowed to treat it like it was. I recognized that look on her face...she was thinking of something dark right about then...

I was just about to ask her if she was all right when we pulled up in front of the castle. Deciding to ask her about it later, I waited for the carriage to stop before getting out. Blinking slightly, as though snapping out of a daze now that we had arrived, Andrea quickly snapped the sketchbook shut and stuck the pencil into her pocket again.

Only waiting long enough for everyone to catch up to me at the bottom of the stairs, I didn't even bother to look up at the wide expanse of the outside of the castle. _I'll get around to exploring everything later, at my leisure. Hopefully my schedule will allow it_. Walking up the front stone steps, I felt before I saw Andrea, Patti, and Frank run past me, laughing, and run right through the front doors. Not two seconds after they vanished did I hear shoes squeaking on the stone floor inside, followed by a strangled yelp from Andrea, which was _quickly_ followed by a _thump_ and what sounded like an older, male voice swearing under his breath. I groaned. Andrea had run into someone...

Hearing this, the rest of us went running up the steps, taking them two-by-two. By the time that we got there, I could see Patti must have fallen backwards onto her butt when trying to stop, as she had been right behind Andrea. Frank was just standing there, laughing at Patti, while Andrea was kneeling in front of Patti, shaking her head dazedly before glaring up at the person she had run into.

"Oh for goodness sake...five points from whatever house you're being sorted into, for not watching where you're going!" came a snarl-like voice from the man standing in front of the scene, who had been the one Andrea had run into. Just by looking at him, I could tell he was a Professor. He had shoulder length black hair, with a few streaks of gray _just_ starting to show, and a rather hooked nose. His dark eyes were scathing, the slight lines underneath betraying his slight age. His hair looked like someone had taken the oil out of a car, mixed it with bacon grease, and slathered across every hair follicle on his head very recently. Just the sight of him made me want to wretch. _Gross_...

"Hey! Who do you think you _are_, you big nasty slime ball _grease monkey_?" Andrea snarled angrily. "You can't take points from me when I'm not even sure if I feel like _staying_ here! Not to mention you put gargoyles, trolls and Medusa to shame with this screwed up appearance you're trying to pull off! You look like you could cause an oil spill if you jumped into the _lake_! Why I _ought_ to…" Andrea ranted on like this, helping Patti to her feet and hitting Frank in the side to get him to stop laughing. By the time she said 'gargoyles' I was already walking up behind her, ready to cover her mouth if she didn't stop. Tragically I _was_ forced to stop the irate teen.

"Andrea I think he's one of the _teachers_ here and I believe, by that sneering look on his face and that murderous glint in his eyes, that he can basically do whatever he _pleases_ to do. Now just calm down before you accidentally _bite_ me ok?" I whispered this last part quietly into her ear, my eyes never leaving the so called 'grease monkey'.

"At least _one_ of you transfers is smart enough to know their place," the man said, looking at me and my friends. Andrea growled under her breath, my hand still over her mouth, where it would remain until I knew whether or not she was going to be okay, or if she was going to hurt someone. Namely the Professor.

"Now_ I_ am the Slytherin Head of House, Professor Snape," He said glowering at us as if we were nothing more then ants. Well I guess it did suit him nicely…or should I say horribly to be a Slytherin. "Now follow me." It wasn't a question or a request; just a blatant demand.

He turned around and walked through the double doors that I supposed lead to the Great Hall. Once his back was turned, Andrea tried to lunge at him, forcing me to grab her and hold her there a little longer. Looking back at the others, so to tell them to go ahead of us, I saw that there were about six more students behind my friends—the other transfers. They were all male. Great.

They all walked ahead of us, and I finally let Andrea go. She glared at me, and I looked at her pointedly to make sure she withheld her actions. Giving me one last glare and sticking her tongue out at me, she started to walk through the doors. Seeing her slight childishness, I knew that things would be okay. Or, at least for a little while yet.

Walking through the doors, I saw that there were four long tables with ends facing the wall that I had just come though. Above each of these tables was a different flag floating above it; a lion, a snake, a raven, and a badger; a different animal adorned each different flag. As I walked down between two tables towards were everyone else was headed, I saw that there was another table that ran perpendicular to the first four tables and was also smaller then the rest of them at the front of the Hall. Every table was empty of any occupants. Actually, come to think of it, no one was in the huge room except our small group.

Reaching the end of the row, I went to the left of the table in front of me towards the door I had just realized was back behind this table. _Another room_? By the time I reached the door, everyone else was inside but the Professor. His hand was on the door and as I looked up towards his face, before entering the small room, I could _so_ tell that he was looking down his nose at me. Wasn't hard, since it was so big, but still...As I looked at him he sneered down at me.

Seriously, what the heck did I do to _him_, except maybe breathe the same air? Oh well. It wasn't like I wasn't used to people, besides my parents and friends, treating me like crap. It barely fazed me that he decided to act like I was so far beneath him, that I wasn't worth his time.

Smirking right back at him, I walked in though the door into the small room.

"All of you are to stay in here until summoned. Do _not_ destroy anything while you are in here," he said, aiming this last part at Andrea. And with those few menacing words from Professor Snape, the doors shut and locked behind me.

Sighing, I sat down on the floor, where I was at the moment, looking around at all the people standing or sitting in the small compact room. There was a fireplace, a chandelier, chairs, a couch, and many knickknacks all over the place.

All of them, I could honestly say I had no clue as to what they were or how to even to describe them. My friends pretty much occupied all the furniture furthest away from the fireplace. I easily saw and understood why. The few chairs that were by the fireplace were occupied by five of the other students while one of them was leaning against the mantle.

Shaking my head, I laughed at the weirdness of it all. Scooting backwards on the floor I finally hit the closed door. Everyone was talking in muttered tones from either group of people. As I heard loud voices coming from the other end of the door, I leaned my head back and I tried to listen to what was being said. It was scattered, really—I could hear the sounds of many students that had just walked into the Great Hall, and also older voices...teachers, perhaps?

Listening to some snatches of conversation on the other side of the door—I couldn't really understand anything, though—I studied the unknown students before me; the ones sitting by the fireplace. Two of them had brown hair. One had glasses and light green eyes; his hair was cut to about his ears. The other brunette had long, shaggy hair that fell to about his shoulders, with blue-green eyes. Another one had bleach-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a scar along his collarbone. The scar was almost invisible under the T-shirt and robes. Actually, it _was_ if you weren't looking too closely at him. One of the boys was leaning half off the chair he was in. This one had short curly black hair and had a fake diamond stud in his ear…or at least I _thought_ it was fake...

The last one sitting in a chair was the closest one to me. He had spiked white hair, with blue tips. I had seen people born with really blonde hair that looks white. Though with him…I really wasn't sure if it was dyed or not. From the angle I was at, I couldn't really see much else about him except his hair. Shrugging away the thoughts of curiosity I held, I turned to the last person. The one that was still standing had short spiky black hair, two studs in his one ear (seriously—what is _up_ with these guys, with their spiked hair and earrings?), and looked like he worked out or at least got more exercise than a lot of people I knew back home in the States. His steel gray eyes were fixed on the rest of my friends as he talked to his own.

I don't know why, but that one guy bugged me more then the rest of them. It wasn't the spiked hair or studs. It was as if the vibe he was radiating would lead anyone into pure caution around him. I was forced out of my reverie as I heard another name called on the other side of the door. And then, another older person was speaking again. A guess the little kids were already done being sorted. _Yay, our turn, what fun._ Rolling my eyes at the thought, I got up off the floor and leaned against the wall off to the right of the door.

"We're up next guys," I muttered under my breath just loudly enough so that I knew that Patti or Andrea, if not both, could hear me. I was just standing by the door, looking over to my friends, when the door to the room opened and you could hear someone say, "…they are exchange students from Durmstrang—which is a school I am sure that at least most of you are familiar with—and also, the Andromeda Light Academy, a private Wizarding School in the United States. I know you will all make them feel welcome."

As I listened to the man talk, the students I didn't know started to walk out of the open door. As they passed me, they all looked at me with either curiosity or something I couldn't quite figure out. It was a look I had seen on a couple peoples' faces, a mix of recognition and challenge. _Strange_...

As the last of them passed, I shivered. Honestly, I had no clue what that was all about, but I had the feeling that I was going to find out sooner or later. I just hoped it was later rather than sooner. Coming out of my thoughts, I followed my friends out into the large room (that now looked smaller with all the many people now occupying it) and forced myself to stay calm. As I looked at the door to the room, I wasn't surprised that no one was holding the door open or that no one was standing there other then an older lady, wearing robes and with a list in her hand. She seemed rather severe...and very old, I suppose. It's difficult to explain.

I felt my eyes wander along what I assumed was the staff table. Snape was already sitting there, looking at us with venom in his eyes. _Jerk_. The Headmaster was easily recognizable, in the center seat. The man seemed...ancient, to me. His bright blue eyes were tired; it looked to me like he might just keel over right then and there. It was something horrible to think, but that's what it looked like to me...

Following the others, I moved around the table that held all of the professors. Once in front of it, we all faced the rest of the room. Taking a deep breath, I took everything in as I spotted a stool in front of Andrea. As I looked at Andrea's face, I tried not to laugh—she looked like she was contemplating on how fast the stool would burn if she could light it on fire right then and there with her mind alone. I had to force myself to look away from her before I was reduced to bursting out in a laughter that would have caused more staring than we were already being submitted to.

I looked out across the assortment of students. I looked over to where the banner of a Lion was, floating above the furthest table to the left. Everyone there looked eager for the sorting to either finish or to see who was going to be sorted into their house. The table next to that one held the banner of a badger. The kids at this table looked liked they cared where we were to be sorted more then anyone so far and probably out of all the houses.

To the right of them was Ravenclaw, seriously anyone with half a brain could figure out that one. Well…except if ones brain decided to not function properly, that is. People at this table looked on with half interest. One boy in particular looked like he was trying to concoct a small potion in a small, brass cauldron. This person, of course, was more towards the back of the long table. I, myself could hardly see it were I stood, so I guess it was safe to assume that none of the teachers would notice, unless something went wrong. _Oh, he's good..._

Finally, the elderly lady standing before us, holding the parchment, stepped forward. He voice rang out crisp and clear. She also had a hint of something else in her accent besides the British tone I was hearing coming from the buzzing students. Was she Irish, perhaps? Scottish?

"Now, when you hear your name, you will sit on the stool and place the sorting hat upon your head. Once sorted you are to go directly to your House table." she stated opening the small parchment and read the first name.

"Duboise, Brand."

The blonde boy with the almost invisible scar stepped forward to be sorted. Hardly a few seconds had gone by before…"SLYTHERIN!" was called by the hat. The second the hat said the fist syllable, the boy was already half way to the furthest table to the right. Obviously he had been expecting that.

I looked to my side towards Jen, who looked kind of nervous. Taking her hand, I squeezed it and smiled at her reassuringly. I really didn't want her to worry about anything when it came to this silly sorting. I knew I was worried...but that didn't mean she had to be.

"Flynn, Francis." I heard the lady call.

Letting go of Jen's hand, I watched as Frank advanced towards the stool like he owned the place. I _so_ wanted to see how strong this façade of his was now. I was really tempted to walk up behind him and say '_Boo'_ and watch him jump. It's not like I would scream it, but say it _softly_. It would have been a blast to embarrass him in front of everyone, but alas, tragically, I couldn't. So I had to be contented with watching him be placed. Eventually...

"SLYTHERIN!"

Sighing, I watched as Frank joined Brand Duboise at the Slytherin table. After he sat down...

"Jones, Patricia!"

Patti was called next to be sorted. It took a while for the hat to decide where she belonged (Andrea actually began to look at her wrist to check the time...which was weird, because she wasn't wearing a watch). Finally...

"SLYTHERIN!"

When the hat also claimed her a Slytherin, she looked back at the teachers, and us, like we had tricked her into being in the house. With a hateful, but saddened expression, she went over to join them. As I watched her, she sat down next to Frank. He grinned smugly and placed his arm around her shoulders. I swear, the next thing I saw was Frank, sprawled out across the two people on his other side. She was getting up and moving to the other side of the table. I grinned. _That's my girl...but God those two are going to kill each other..._I guess I'll just have to be friends with whoever the survivor is...

Trying not to laugh at the whole scene, I turned back to the sorting just as the name "Kaiser, Kieve," was called. It was the kid with the glasses. Surprisingly it was taking longer to sort him than the others, even Patti.

So, being bored of the silence, I looked off to the far right where the Slytherin table was. Most of the students there were scowling or completely ignoring that students were standing in front of them, still being sorted. About halfway down that table, I saw the spiky dark blonde boy from earlier by the carriages. He was staring very contentedly towards us, while the other people around him looked like they were trying to get him to pay more attention to them and whatever conversation they were having. He looked to be studying each one of us in turn; not really surprising really, us being the new kids at his school. When his attention finally landed on me, he smirked; then turned his attention to the new people added to his house.

I must have been thinking too much because I never heard as to which house "Kaiser, Kieve" was sorted into, for the next thing I heard was…

"Martin, Alexandrea."

Closing my eyes for a second, I took a deep breath. Stepping forward, I sat down on the stool and the elderly lady placed the old sorting hat on top of my head. The hat, in all honesty, almost fit my head perfectly, but of course it was still big. A second after I was done contemplating that...the hat started to talk inside my head.

'_Ah…now lets see what is going on in that head of yours?'_

_Stupid hat must think he's a psychiatrist or something. See what is going on in my head indeed. Even I don't know what's going on up there..._

'_Hmm…you're extremely loyal to your friends and to yourself. Very protective and wishing to be more free willed and take chances. The mind set that can learn any and everything of interest, but not just anything...though there is a strand of idleness in you when it comes to schoolwork, eh? I see you hate to read continuously of text books.'_

_Ok…um, yeah, now this thing is getting creepy. I so can't wait for it to get this thing off of my head and out of my mind..._

'_They are all great qualities for any House. Wanting to learn many things is a Ravenclaw trait. Being protective is Hufflepuff. Your loyalties are suited for a Gryffindor. Though, Slytherin would help you a great deal in you desire of being free willed and learning to take chances. Hmm…where to place you…I think the best place for you to completely take advantage of these things is…'_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

With that declaration, I took the hat off of my head and walked over to the far table on the left. Sitting down so that I could still watch the sorting without having to turn around, I watched as the lady called the next name. The boy that had been lounging in the chair in the back room with curly hair, by the name of Donovan Moreasu, walked forward and sat. As he was placed into Slytherin, I could hear some of the other Gryffindors at the table that were talking about how there were way too many Slytherins this year.

I just shook my head, and turned my full attention back to the sorting.

"Ramirez, Ace," was the name called the second I looked up at the remaining students. He was the one with the spiky black hair, two studs, and had been _standing_ in the back room. When he was sorted into Gryffindor, the whole table erupted into cheers and applause. Treatment I am happy to say I didn't receive. He walked over and sat down across from me. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and looked like he was about to say something, when he was interrupted by someone hitting him on the back and congratulating him on being sorted into the "right" house. Stifling a laugh of indignation, I looked at my hands, thinking about a lot of things.

"Ramirez, Connor!"

When the next person was called, I didn't even bother to see as to which of the remaining two students—I didn't know—it was. I was so caught up as to what exactly the hat meant by _Slytherin would help me to accomplish my goals_ that I didn't even realize someone had sat down in another seat across from me...

I never heard the next named called. I kind of figured out that it was the last student from Durmstrang, but I was wrong, for when I looked up to watch the rest of the sorting, Jon was sitting on the stool and Jen and Andrea were the only ones behind him. Two seconds later…

"RAVENCLAW!"

As Jon walked over to the Ravenclaw table, he looked over to where Patti and Frank were, and then broke out in laughter. I looked over to see as to what was so funny, and caught sight of Patti about to choke Frank with his own tie. I didn't even want to know what he had just done to deserve even the consideration of that kind of treatment. Jon had just sat down facing me when,

"Sweirs, Jennifer!" rang throughout the hall. The hat wasn't even on her head for a second when the hat yelled...

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Finally, Andrea was the only one left. She was grinning_. Not good._ She didn't even _wait_ for her name to be called before she had given a great "WHOOP!" and had run forward, grabbed the hat, sat, and crammed it on top of her head like a person wishing to shove their head right through the top of it. As she held it firmly over her head, even I, from the distance, could hear the harsh giggles coming from her lips. Everyone in the Great Hall was looking at her in shock, especially the teachers...except the headmaster. For some strange reason, he seemed more amused than anything. There was a faint trace of a smile upon his lips as Andrea began to full-out laugh maniacally. Finally...

"RAVENCLAW!"

The hat had shouted it with such ferocity, that some of the older students, and two faculty members, actually jumped. Andrea gave a sound that sounded caught between a scream and a shout of glee before she tore the hat off, fairly much shoved it into the elderly woman's hands—the woman was absolutely _stunned_ by this—and had jumped off of the platform, running towards Ravenclaw table.

"AHAHA! I AM THE MUGGLE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS MAGICAL!" Andrea shrieked...running right between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables and not stopping as she continued to laugh maniacally. By now, everyone from the Academy—excluding me; I was shaking my head and smiling—was laughing and shouting out to her.

"Run, Andrea, run! Run like the wind blows!"

"Good luck, Ravenclaw! You're gonna _need_ it!"

"Andrea! SIT DOWN, YOU FREAK!"

But Andrea didn't stop; at least, not until she had rounded the table and had made it to the other end again, in front of the staff table, where she suddenly slid to a stop and then sat down at her rightful table calmly, placing her hands atop of the table and folding them, beaming up at the staff table innocently. The woman who held the hat just stared at her for a few moments before glancing back at the headmaster unsurely. He was smiling, still. She shook her head and gathered the stool and hat, stalking off to the right with a rather sever expression upon her face.

I couldn't help, but laugh at the madwoman that was my friend. I think she could drive anyone into insanity by scaring them somehow. By now, everyone else besides the teachers in the Great Hall was laughing hysterically at Andrea's antics, which she seemed to be rather pleased about. After a moment, the elderly wizard at the staff table shook his head and got slowly—and I mean slowly—to his feet, causing complete silence to reign throughout the Great Hall automatically.

"Yes...thank you, Miss. Zurcher, for that...ah...colorful display of House pride," he chuckled. I could have sworn that he winked at her when she grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Now that all of the sorting of both the first years and the new exchange students has been done, I would like to make a few announcements. As the sorting has taken longer then previous years, I'll make the New Year announcements short and finish them tomorrow at breakfast. I'm sure you all can't wait."

"SAY 'EM ALL NOW!" came Andrea's voice, quickly followed by Frank's.

"_Andrea_—SHUT UP!"

"Kay."

Laughter rang throughout the hall again, short-lived with the chuckle of the headmaster once more. I was amazed that the man was being so lenient about Andrea. Our last headmaster hadn't been so kind about it...

"First of all, the Forbidden Forest, as its names states, is forbidden to _all_ students. That includes those that like to run around House tables and shout at the top of their lungs. There are _quite_ a few newly banned items as well that will not be permitted in the castle—the full list of banned items can be found in Mr. Filch's office. I would say more, but then you would not be able to eat the food that has just appeared right in front of you...and that would be a shame. Tuck in."

Not caring to talk to anyone, I looked at the assortment of different foods. Some of them I had never seen before, let alone knew what they were. What I wouldn't have done to be in a car on the way to a Taco Bell right that moment. Then I thought about it a little more, and started to giggle softly under my breath. Just thinking about all this odd food while seeing that hardly anything a vegetarian would want to eat was there was rather funny. Poor Andrea...and while I thought of it, poor Ravenclaws...

For a little bit my thoughts went back to my two, newly appointed, Slytherin friends. Given the circumstances now those two are probably going to kill each other faster then they normally would have. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the finally outcome of this little war of theirs will be. For I refuse to be placed in the middle of any battle between those two. I will claim to be as neutral as Normandy during World War II, during the duration of these little free for all battles.

That decision made up I reaching for something that looked _remotely_ like normal food to me, I started to place a small amount of chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans, and a roll onto my plate. But before I ate, I had to write a note to my friends; it was something I always did at dinner at the Academy.

Taking out a piece of paper and a pen, I started to write down some things about what had happened so far today—including about those _beasts_ outside. I had created a weird alphabet and taught my friends how to read and write it a long time ago, but of course I had to make up keys for them so that they could translate them without much difficulty. It was the only safe way to pass notes from one to another without anyone having a clue what it said (especially teachers). Though, I really had no clue as to how to write with a quill. I had tried it once when I was about eleven or twelve, but it was a bust. Everything was smeared across the little piece of parchment...

"So you're from that other school right?" asked a voice from across from me. I was in the middle of drinking something that tasted like something with pumpkin in it, and was just starting to write the second paragraph when the person's voice registered in my head. I didn't really think anything of it since I wasn't the only new kid at the table, so I just ignored the voice and kept writing.

Maybe two minutes had passed, or it could have been thirty seconds, I really didn't know, but the next thing I knew there was a tanned hand obscuring my line of sight to the paper I was writing on, waving in my face energetically. Growling under my breath, I jabbed the tip of the pen against the back of the person's hand in the hope that they would get the hint and move it so that I could go back to what I was doing. Tragically though, the hand didn't move away. Instead, the person took the piece of paper out of my hand as another hand took the pen out of mine. I sat stunned for a second, and then looked across the table.

Sitting across from me was the spiky white-haired boy. Now that I could see more of him than before, I could tell that he had blue-gray eyes and soft features. His eyes weren't as steely as the boy that sat next to him had. He had a pretty good tan—not one of those that you get at the tanning beds—completely natural. In his hands was my paper and pen. He looked slightly confused, which I wasn't surprised about. The writing was like an odd mixture between chicken scratch and shorthand. As he looked at it, he fiddled with my pen. Finally giving up, he handed it to the boy next to him, while turning back to me.

"So, are you going to answer my question or keep me in suspense?" He asked, smiling across at me.

"Don't know. Maybe if you give me back my things and not take them again..." I started, holding my hand out for my possessions. I kept trying to figure out who he was. I knew that both of them had the last name of Ramirez, but no first names were coming to mind. Brothers? Or maybe cousins?

He just shrugged and handed me back the pen, and then nudged the dark-haired boy next to him. He just grunted in annoyance and looked up at me, smirking. I just rolled my eyes and held out my hand towards him.

"_Now_ would be nice," I said, trying not sound to offensive on the matter—but come on, it was _my_ paper and I wanted it _back_. Whether willingly or not was up to him—if it had to be the hard way, I'd play—I had to release this pent-up energy _somehow_.

"Actually, I think I'll keep it. I'd like the chance to try and figure out what it says. A challenge worth perusing, I think. Though, if you really want it back that badly, you'll have to earn it back somehow." Looking at him I could figure out what his stupid 'earning' might be, whether it was groveling or not.

That statement hit the last nerve I had, because I just decided to get rid of this tension the one way I knew best. I knew I'd probably get in trouble, but I really didn't care. (Personal items should not be touched by evil _dorks_.) I didn't even give him a chance to react. I kicked him hard in the shin underneath the table, and as he yelped in sudden pain I then reached across the table and snatched my paper out of his hand. Once I shoved it into my small bag, I got up.

"_Don't_ take anything of mine again. This is your _only_ warning--you do it again and I promise you'll be in more pain then you are in right now. Hell, I'll set Andrea on you," I said with narrowed eyes, enjoying how pale they got when I jerked my thumb in the direction of Ravenclaw table. "Bye kids," I said, smirking down at them before I turned and walked down the table to someone who looked to be about the same age as me. The only thing I wanted to do right then was to get directions and a password, and go to my room and sleep.

I was in luck, because two girls were already heading up to the dorms. I decided to join them as they went up the first flight of stairs. I found out that they were seventh years. When we finally stopped we were in front of a picture of a Fat Lady in a pink dress.

"Balderdash," one of the girls said. A second later, the portrait swung open to reveal what I found out to be called the 'Common Room'. After the girls showed me to my dorm, I changed and fell asleep as soon as I lay down on the extremely soft bed.

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_Andrea's Point of View: that same night..._

_WOW, that sorting was fun!_

I was walking with Jon towards the Ravenclaw Common Room entrance with the little first years after the feast that night. Seriously, I was just as tall as them; how embarrassing_. I hate my shortness_. My sketch book was still in my hand as we stopped in front of a knight. I never really heard the password before, but I was sure Jon did because the next thing I know he was laughing and dragging me into the common room.

The whole room was done in blue and bronze. What I wouldn't do for drearier and darker colors_. I know—I'll come down tomorrow and do my own decorating_!_ Wouldn't that put everybody in such a right state?_ Wanting to start on the color scheme for the new and very much needed improved common room, I detached myself from Jon and went up to my room. Being the first one to be in there, I turned and locked the door. Sitting at the desk I began to draw. I wanted to immerse myself into my artwork before thoughts of what that stupid hat had to say could come floating back into my head. I didn't want to think about that hat anymore.

_The hat was wrong. I'm not like...him. Not at all. Damn hat was wrong..._

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_Jen's Point of View..._

I found myself sitting on my new bed, thinking about the year to come. I still couldn't figure out why Ali left early from the feast. She looked like she was about to _kill_ someone. I've only seen that look in her eyes when she was plotting revenge or she had just started the first step of it. I sat there, trying to figure out which one of us she was that mad at, but I couldn't figure anything out. Whomever she's mad at right now, I really feel bad for them. Though, maybe if we gave her time, she'd calm down or tell us what was going on—if not then, I'd yell at her at breakfast tomorrow.

Turning over, I looked at the closed drapes over the window. When we had heard all the different descriptions about the houses, I wasn't really surprised when I was sorted into Hufflepuff. The hat said that I was very loving and caring about my friends and family. That if I really wished to stay on that path, then I would do well to learn from others in this house. With those last thoughts I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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_Frank's Point of View..._

I had just walked through a solid stone wall leading into the Slytherin Common Room when I decided I was going to like this place. Great color scheme. I was talking to two of the exchange students from Durmstrang when Patti walked right by me, trying for the fastest escape from the room. Grabbing her arm, I dragged her to one of the couches, refusing to allow her to run to her room so early into the evening. After literally forcing her to sit down, I sat down next to her, still talking to Brand Duboise and another students whose name I just couldn't remember.

After about a half-hour of the four of us talking, they all of a sudden asked as to our lineage. I looked at Patti carefully. She looked like she was about to have a major _fit_. Honestly, I didn't care if she had a fit or not, as long as it wasn't directed at me. I seriously have had enough of all the aggressiveness from three-fourths of the girls in our group.

Luckily for the boys sitting across from us, Patti got up, gave them a glowering look, and left. As she was walking away I thought back to what the hat said to me. It told me that in order for my ambitions to be able to succeed, then I should learn from those that strive for the same things roughly. Hence why the tattered old hat placed me into Slytherin.

_Good job, Hat!_

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_Patti's Point of View..._

I left the stupid, asinine, misbegotten, chauvinistic _pigs_ downstairs without a care in the world, except maybe two of them falling into a ravine and never being found ever again. Is it really _my_ fault as to what happened to me? Yes I will _admit_ that I am a half-werewolf, but not to some stuck up pureblood thinking jerks! If they really want to know, then they can go exploring in the wrong areas during the next full moon, when I happen to get a little...cruel at times. If not, then they can just go drink poison for all I cared.

As I stepped into the room I could hear some giggling girls off to one corner of the room. Not wanting to be dragged into a gossip fest or any conversations, I went over to my bed. Once I had closed the drapes, I placed a locking and silencing charm on them. As I drifted off to sleep, my last thoughts were about those few insightful statements from that hat, "If you really wish for more control over your life and to prove to everyone that they were wrong...that a witch-werewolf can make a place for themselves in the wizarding society, then the house you must be placed into is Slytherin..."

_Damn hat._

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_Jon's Point of View…_

I was still sitting in the Common Room long after everyone else had gone to sleep. I was sitting in a very comfy chair, as the fire was still blazing in the open fireplace. Hadn't anyone here ever heard of fireplace grates? They come in really handy. Oh…well, can't always assume anything. Or at least that's what that silly misbegotten hat told me. Or at least part of it. The hat had said something along the lines as to really be come a good leader with extremely high intelligence and understanding, then the only place at this school for me was in Ravenclaw. Though I would like to know how Andrea was placed in this house...

_Give her a break. She's a freak...but you know that's not her fault..._

Sighing, I took another long drink of butterbeer one of the house elves gave me. Andrea had gone upstairs to her room not long after I dragged her inside here. She looked so determined about something—not really sure what. Though now that I thought about it, it must have been really important to her in some way. The other girls in her dorm were only able to get into the room an hour ago since she had locked the door. I had a feeling it was somewhere close to about two in the morning. Looking at my wristwatch, I was actually surprised to see that it was only one-sixteen. Ok so it was about forty-five minutes earlier then what I thought it was, so what.

My thoughts once again tonight (or was it morning), anyway, switched to yet another topic. Ali's worries actually came true, which wasn't surprising, but still...she must have been worrying her head about little things once again. Maybe Frank should have left her to her book on the train, then maybe she wouldn't have left the Hall so early...

Then there was the thing about these kids from Durmstrang. There was just something about them…I just couldn't put my finger on it. Hmm…maybe I'd just talk to the others about it come morning. Hopefully everyone would be still alive by then. Though that task would probably be hard to accomplish with our two newly pristine residents from the Academy in the Slytherin household. Time will only tell with those two…and maybe a few cuts and bruises along the way.

_Whatever, hat..._

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By the time three AM rolled around, every new resident from the Academy was fast asleep from beds to desks to chairs in the Common Rooms. Although, while these new residents were fast asleep in there new environments, someone—or some people— were at this time conversing in secret about those same new students. Their motives were still as secret as they had been eleven years ago...


	6. Chapter 5

_**Punkette:** Ok, kids. I am so, so sorry that it took so long to update, but do to uncontrollable difficulties I was unable to. Those being with both my computer and my bata'r's and loads of school work and plus preparing for Graduation… well it took some time. _

_Now please note that unless it says certain 'Points of View' then it is probably from the main character's 'point of view'. At times it won't say for a reason. This is because it is probably an introduction of a new character that you have heard of, but might not have given much thought to. In this case you will come to realize whose 'point of view' you are reading from after a short time. There will be very few times that it isn't from someone's 'point of view'._

_Also I am forewarning you there is going to be more cussing then previous chapters. This is because it is actually meant as friendly banter and it's just how these characters are. Secondly, I have had this little bit in my mind set long before I started to post these chapters. This 'friendly banter' is so going to take place. If you don't like it well…you can either just deal with it or skip over it. You have been forewarned._

_Thanks for reading this notice. Enjoy the next chapter. Oh, and of course don't forget to review. Bye Kids! _

Chapter 5 The First Weekend's Day of Craziness

I woke up the next morning at about a quarter to seven. I so, _so_ didn't want to get up, but somehow forced myself to anyway. I was still way too tired from all the craziness from the day before. In all honesty I couldn't even remember if yesterday was Friday or Saturday, or maybe, it wasn't even one of those days.

Sighing, I looked outside the window, wishing it would still be dark so that I could ignore the stupid time and get back to sleep. Yes, usually I am at least a halfway decent person in the morning, but come on…I had to contend with the Princess of the Damned who claims herself Queen of the Garden Gnomes. Damned Andrea…she is a very odd one indeed; I don't think anyone would want to know her as well as I do, and that is if they can really deal with her madness without being sucked into it themselves.

Grumbling under my breath, I got up and went to the bathroom and was changing by the time one of my new roommates was getting up. Quickly getting my stuff on and grabbing a hair tie, I went down to the Common Room in hopes of solitude. I didn't want to be dragged into gossip, makeup tips, and/or the latest idiotic fashion craze by the other sixth year Gryffindor girls.

I was just pulling the hair tie tight onto the back of my neck when I hit the bottom stair. I hadn't even looked into the room on my way down. I guess that's where I first went wrong. Usually I'm awake enough that I'm very observant when it comes to my surroundings. Though, apparently I was more tired then even I thought I was. Crap. All of this flashed through my head from the seconds it took someone to grab my arm and for my back to hit the wall.

Blinking a couple of times, I looked up at the looming form of another student. I really couldn't see whom it was that was standing in front of me due to a few different variables. The curtains were closed tight over the Common Room windows; the fire was hardly burning anymore in the fireplace, and the angle that the person in front of me was at made them impossible to see clearly. His or her back was to any and all light in the room, making it harder for me to see them than it usually would have.

Their hand was still gripping my arm tightly; I could see that their other hand was resting against the wall by my head on the right. I so didn't like it when people touched me, especially when it's someone that I don't frickin' know.

"So, you think that you're a tough little girl huh?" The voice asked. The person was either a guy or a girl with a really low voice. "I bet that you've lived a sheltered life. You probably don't even _know_ what is really out there do you?"

With each question and accusation, his hand tightened even more on my arm. I hissed in a deep breath through my teeth because of all the pain. The only reason why I hadn't tried to get away, scream, or just hall off and hit them is because I had no clue what they wanted or what they would do if I tried any of those things. All my exits were cut off, unless I went through him. Taking a deep breath and fighting through the pain traveling through my body from my throbbing arm, I tried to look to where I thought their eyes were.

I decided not to figure out what game this person was trying to play, and just answer honestly, "I'm not _trying_ to act like a tough girl. It's not my fault that it just happens to be that way."

The word 'trying' was said through gritted teeth. I don't even know what the meaning behind the whole 'sheltered life stuff' was, so I wasn't even going to try and figure it out. "As for what is out there, why don't you specify that one. 'Cuz buddy, I have lived a life around vampires, werewolves, and some other _interesting_ creatures." _That would probably make your skin crawl._ "A specification would be much appreciated."

It's amazing, really, that I was able to sound so calm and sure, when on the inside I felt like I was going to faint; my knees were already about to buckle and let me drop to the ground.

The guy didn't even say anything for a bit; just growled under his breath. It wasn't even a human growl either, it sounded more…animal-like…than anything. Hmmm….I guessed I'd just have to come back to that thought later when I'm not trapped against a wall. I could hear talking and footsteps coming from up in the dormitories. Lucky me. I wouldn't have to play this stupid cat and mouse game anymore, at least right now. A part of me knew that this wasn't over. I couldn't even think of why it began, but I knew that in time I was going to have to confront whoever this was, on whatever this whole thing was really about.

The footsteps were getting slightly louder, but weren't getting any closer. I didn't even realize the guy had moved closer until I felt his breath on my left ear. Tragically, I will admit that it scared me enough, in its suddenness, that I did make a squeak sound. He let out a very masculine chuckle. It actually made my skin crawl and the sad thing is I don't even know if it was a good thing or bad. I'm hoping a bad thing, if only for my sanities sake. Never changing his grip, he scraped his nails across my arm. It was so slow and hardly touching, that it was creepy, so creepy that I don't even think that Andrea could come close on that scale.

That one action messed so badly with my nerves that pure instinct took over. That old instinct that is in everyone since birth, that basically makes someone want to get away and run as far as they can away from the predator, the things that live in the dark and hunt you down in the wild. I wish I could remember what it was called, but I'd never paid attention in my muggle psychology class. That pure instinct flared within me the moment that one action happened. I panicked, I _frickin'_ panicked, and I _never_ panic….ever…

There was really no thought, at least not logical, in what I did next. I tried to jerk my arm out of his grasp and I turned towards my right; I hadn't even realize that I wasn't even out of his grasp yet. Though, I was halfway under his arm when he jerked me back. His other hand grabbed my other arm and pulled me back. I was struggling so hard that it took me a while to realize that I was trapped worse then I was before. My back was against his front, my left arm slightly pulled back behind me, his other arm wrapped around my front, pinning me completely to him.

Footsteps were finally getting closer. I took a deep breath to try and calm my so tattered nervous system. My whole awareness was finally waking up and working right. He wasn't even doing anything, just waiting for me to get a hold of myself, either that or waiting to see if the people upstairs were going to be coming down soon.

His voice was back next to my ear when he started to talk again, "That might be, but there are still things out there that you don't know about. Then there are the things that you say that you know about, but I'm sure you have no clue how much about those things you still don't know. I think you will come to realize this fact after some time. Maybe I should teach you how wrong you really are, and how the reality of this world really is compared to this innocent thinking of yours?"

'_Who does this guy think he is; a wannabe Shakespeare?'_

He didn't say anything more, because people were coming down the steps. When he did let go of me, I went staggering forward, trying to catch my footing. By the time I had turned around to see who the person was, the portrait was closing and all I could see of them was a distorted shadow.

Sighing, I fell back into a chair and was taking deep, deep breaths, just as everyone was filling into the Common Room. Someone had opened the curtains sometime while the place was being filled and others were starting to exit through the portrait.

Looking at some of the students, I came to the conclusion that it must be Saturday or Sunday, which basically just meant that I had time to explore and to talk to the others when I feel like it. Taking a deep breath, I waited until I was absolutely sure that I wasn't going to fall down if I got up. I decided that I would probably go outside after getting something to eat. Maybe, by then the other miscreants, that are my friends, will be up and moving around.

I also decided not to mention this to them the moment I saw them. I didn't want to worry them. In the back of my mind, I was already wondering if maybe all new transfer students were treated that way; maybe it was a sort of initiation…

That decided, I went back upstairs and grabbed my small, dark blue book-bag that contained blank scrap paper, pens, pencils, colored pencils, and a small notebook. When I got back down to the Common Room, it was so loud that it was hard for anyone to even think a fleeting thought. Shaking my head, I tried to forget for the time being what had just happened just a few minutes ago. Seriously, I was disturbed, but there really wasn't a thing anyone could do about it then. I'd just come back to it when I was by myself and could actually think.

Leaving the Common Room, I started in the direction the Great Hall was in, taking the stairs two at a time. Hitting the doors, I headed over to the Gryffindor table, which hardly had anyone sitting at it at the time, to get a muffin or something that I could easily take with me outside. Grabbing two muffins, one raspberry and one apple, I took a quick drink of water and headed back out the door, basically unnoticed.

Stepping out onto the grounds, I looked at my surroundings in the hopes of finding a good spot to sit and sort some things out. It was extremely tempting to go into the so-called Forbidden Forest, if only to ensure myself being left alone for a time, but I resisted the urge. Ok, yes I will admit the idea of exploring that vast open place was more tempting then solitude. Also, I am attracted to woodland areas…I hadn't even realized that I had started to walk in that direction till I was about halfway across the open grounds.

Shaking my head and clearing all thoughts of the magnificent woods, I headed off to the right, which turned out to hold a wide lake. Walking down along the edge of the lake, I headed towards the woods. My targeted area of seclusion was a lone tree situated between the forest and the lake, about halfway between both huge areas. It was actually situated directly across the lake from the castle. As I got closer I saw that there was about a cluster of boulders in front of it facing the lake. Sitting down on one of the medium sized rocks that were on a small cliff over the lake, I stretched out on my stomach.

Opening my bag I took out a pencil and a scrap piece of paper. Looking up at the castle, I smiled. I liked living away from my parents for the most part, it made me feel even more independent then I usually do. I know, I should be more worried about what could come out of the forest, but for some reason I didn't feel that concerned. Maybe it's the fact that living with a partial vampire and werewolf, that maybe it has made me more lax to other dangerous beings out there? That because I don't see my friends as a danger, then subconsciously I've come to a stupid idiotic conclusion that everything else out there can't be that bad. Stupid me, right?

Eating the raspberry muffin, I set the other one aside still thinking. After a bit I started to draw a crude drawing of the castle as students started to come out of the castle and onto the grounds. It was a nice day to be outside and it was the weekend. I forced my focus to return to my drawing and not to the newly more occupied grounds of Hogwarts. I know I wasn't anywhere near Andrea's caliber at drawing, and I'm _so_ talking about the less corrupted ones, but my drawings were at least slightly above decent due to the fact that I have to pay more attention to everything compared to most good artists. Still though, compared to most others…I'm really not that great at it. Good thing it's more of a hobby than a life's obsession…

As I was drawing, my thoughts kept drifting back to the weirdness of everything that happened today, and that was saying a lot since the day only just started. I was really curious as to who the _Hell_ the person was. Who in their right mind would get up so early just to wait for someone to come down from the girl's dormitories? I couldn't even tell if they might have been a Gryffindor, or from another house completely. Grrr…this was seriously going to bug me for the rest of the day. Scratching out the drawing, I turned the paper over and started again, only now adding people into it as well.

About a half and hour or so later, I was halfway through my drawing when another thought associated with earlier intruded into my drawing and blank thoughts. Pausing, I started to assess this certain particular thought of pure terror. I started to remember that feel of him. He had a strange almost sort of…aura to him, like what Patti did because of her lycanthropy… but it wasn't a werewolf. Hmm…I started to think about the other kinds of Weres there are out there, well at least the ones I know of anyway. There are, of course, werewolves, wereleopards, weretigers, werebats, and wereowls…but most of those really are just myths, and nothing else. Besides, I have only ever met werewolves, personally. Which just basically means that if this guy is a Were and is one of those other kinds, then I wouldn't even know it even if it came up and bit me on the butt.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I never heard the person come up behind me until they cleared their throat. Jumping slightly, I looked over my shoulder in the direction I thought they were standing. It was the Slytherin from the carriages. Seriously, couldn't I just have an hour to myself without him popping up?

"Can I help you with something?" I asked slightly miffed, thanking whatever deity that I wasn't wearing a skirt, mid-drift top, or any other thing that might have been considered mildly in appropriate. I had on a dark green shirt and dark blue jeans.

As I waited for his reply, I looked him over. So sue me, I'm a teenage girl who likes guys. Really who wouldn't look at one when given the opportunity? He was leaning back against the tree and had on a tight black shirt and blue jeans. I really had no clue as to why guys like to wear tight shirts. It was actually kind of emo, and almost made me laugh. He, himself looked like he could easily rip his shirt if he moved wrong just once.

"Actually I came out here to be alone, but I guess this place is already taken," he says, smirking down at me.

"Yeah right," I scoff at him turning back to my drawing in the hopes that if I ignored him he would get the hint and get the heck away from me. I didn't even know he had moved from the trees until he sat down on the grass to the left of the stone I was currently laying on. Looking at him out of the corner of my eye I said, "If you want to be alone go somewhere else because I'm not leaving."

His knees were up against his chest, one arm lying across his knees; he was throwing stones idly into the water. As I watched I saw one hit about twenty-five feet out, then all of a sudden some long thing broke the water, but it was gone in a matter of two seconds. Blinking I looked back over at him. He was smirking as he was looking out of the corner of his eye at me, while picking up another stone to throw.

"So, I guess the sorting did answer my question, you are a new transfer. Honestly, I don't think we have ever had any transfers to Hogwarts. Then this year we get stuck with _twelve_ of you." When he said the word 'twelve', he sneered. I'm guessing someone didn't want transfers to intrude on his school. _Well. To. Fricken'. Bad. He can just learn to deal with it._ He turned and looked directly at me when he said, "Though it is too bad that you were unfortunately sorted into the horribly goody two-shoes house. You really should have been sorted into Slytherin."

Great, another entity that says I should be in Slytherin, that's exactly what I needed. "Maybe, I like the goody two-shoes atmosphere? Ever think of that?" I ask, smirking down at him. I pretty much could figure out that being placed into Slytherin would have been very bad for me, but tragically my curiosity of him got the better of me. "So it seems that you now know my name. Care to tell me yours?"

He looked at me for a heartbeat, then nodded. "Fair enough. It's Orion Nuri," He says, holding out his hand to me. I forced myself not to laugh at these rather ridiculous names—his parents must have been hippies—or at least pureblood fanatics.

I just looked at his hand for a second. I hesitated shaking it; for some reason I felt like it would actually bite me…or something along those lines. Sheesh, my nerves must still be on overload if I was still this cautious. Taking a breath, I reached across and shook his hand. He actually had a firm grip, not like most guys. They either try to crush a girl's hand to prove something, or they think you're the most fragile thing in the world, like you'll break if they squeeze too hard. Sighing, I set my stuff back into my bag; I had a feeling that there was going to be no way for me to finish that drawing, so why bother to try?

He went back to tossing stones. I just laid there with my arms crossed on the rock, my head on my arms. I watched as the stones hit the water. I really didn't care anymore if he was here or not. I kind of refused to leave because I was there first. So I kind of did have a claim on the place, at least for today anyway. Looking to where the sun was I came to the conclusion that at least some of my friends would be at least mildly awake by now…

This big huge tentacle broke the surface of the water quickly, catching the latest stone Orion had thrown. I just lay there, transfixed on the huge tentacle. So, yeah I had never seen an octopus in person, but heck, I knew for a fact that that thing was huge in comparison to what their usual size was. Or was it a squid? Wait…what's the difference between them, again? Suddenly I had an urge to get up and walk out into the water, if anything to get a better look at it. I crushed the feeling inside me; it so wasn't like me to be that stupid.

"Ahem!"

The sound of someone clearing their throat loudly broke me out of my thoughts. When I turned to look at Orion, I came to the realization that I wasn't only standing, but was standing close enough to the water that it lapped lightly against my shoes.

"Going somewhere little Gryffie?" He asked, one eyebrow raised and a half-smirk on his face.

Though I didn't move from were I was, I scowled at him. What was with the indignation of that comment? 'Little Gyffie' indeed. I growled at him under my breath, and would have said something, if it hadn't been for something slowly sliding along my jeans. Looking down I saw a tentacle sliding along the outside of my jeans and starting to wrap around my legs. Letting out a little squeak, that only I heard, thank the deities, I jumped over the tentacle and walked pretty fast, back to the rock.

The next thing I heard was pure laughter, with a weird combination of pure evil and pure joy. Scary combination if you ask me. I shivered at the sound of it. When I looked back at Orion he was clutching his stomach, and was laughing so hard that he looked like it hurt.

"Well excuse me, but I don't much appreciate being someone's cheap comical entertainment for the day. So go pester someone else." I growled out between clenched teeth.

I swear, right then, I was really tempted to either strangle this little snake or start to work on being an animagus in secret away from Andrea and Patti. Yeah, I know I shouldn't go and do that alone, but _Hell_ right then I so wished for claws so that I could just rip this guy to shreds. Sighing at the thought of never really being able to pull it off, I came back to myself and the now evil smirking Slytherin. Darn it! I fricken' missed something while thinking evil thoughts.

I saw him shrug his shoulders and get up. That evil smirk was still on his face as he picked up one last stone and threw it into the water. As he walked towards me, I tensed. I so didn't want another physical confrontation today. Verbal confrontations I could live off of, but physical ones just get on my nerves after the first or second one, depending on how physical. He walked to my left side then stopped in his tracks. He was just a little bit in front of me, but still off to the side.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye at me as he said, "Fine, I'll go find other entertainment…for now. Though there are two things I would like to state before I leave you here at the eight _capable_ hands of our resident squid." When he said 'capable', he made it sound like something other then the thing ripping me to shreds. I shivered at the obscene innuendo he made it sound like. He turned to face me fully, my eyes locking with his to the point that I wasn't able to pay attention to anything else or look away. Crap. "I don't pester people. It's not in my blood, nature, or persona. Secondly, you're not cheap…by any means."

I so didn't even know where his hand was till the back part of two of his fingers traced the side of my jaw slowly. Closing my eyes at the touch, I shivered visibly. When I opened my eyes again, I could focus. He gave me one last nod before he kept walking past me. That smirk on his face was now somewhere between a sneer and a grin.

Letting out a deep breath, I went back to sitting on the rock and looking at the lake. I so couldn't think straight, _darn_ it. I looked directly at the squid, and scowled. That thing and I were so going to have an understanding between us real soon. As I looked back over at the castle I saw Orion heading up onto the steps just as Patti, Frank, and Jon were heading out the doors. Though, apparently not today, I so wasn't up to dealing with a squid today. Maybe tomorrow? Gathering my stuff up, I started to head over to where my friends sat by a tree. I had a feeling that after another hour of this kind of stuff, I should have probably just hidden out in the Gryffindor Common Room for the rest of the day.

By the time I had walked over to my miscreant friends, Jen had already come over and joined them. I can't even remember seeing her come outside. Man I was out of it. Though, who would blame me with how my day had been going lately? Though, actually I might have come up with some type of cure for this. Hehehe. Hopefully Frank is in a good mood today, or this is so going to be a dud.

As I drop my stuff down on the grass, I sit down next to Frank saying, "Hey guys!"

The boys muttered some kind of acknowledgement, though the girls actually had the normalness to say hi back. Go figure. Jon and Frank were playing chess, Jon winning by a mile with only like two minutes into the game. Jen was going through pictures, and Patti was playing solitaire.

"Coffee House Blackjack?" I asked Patti after seeing a bored, but frustrated look on her face.

She looked up at me, then after a quick look at the guys, she nodded, grinning at me. The grin was pure mischief mix in with mild evilness and a dash of trouble. Ok, so yeah maybe we are all evil in our own ways, but come on we're perfectly normal freaks. It's just that people don't understand that there is no set normal, weird, freak, or evil/good; for it is all based on one's personal opinion and preference. What I think is evil might not be evil to a serial killer, or what people believe to be weird is normal to me because that is how I have always been and what I believe to be.

Wow. The things scientists would find hidden deep within the recesses of my mind. They would be astounded if not knocked completely off their feet and slammed unconscious due to the shocking overload of their brain capacity. To think, this is how my brain functions every minute of every day, twenty-four hours a day, and three hundred and sixty-five days a year on at least seven different levels. And I can also hold numerous conversations at once.

Shaking my head out of my normal reverie of how dense the world was to me, I saw Patti had already dealt the cards and was waiting for me. I smiled, and picked up my cards; I had a seven and an eight. Asking for a hit, I saw as the card was dealt and turned out to be a Queen. Shoot.

Smiling, Patti flipped over her cards showing a two and an Ace. "Sweet, now what to ask you that I don't know of yet...hmm…How has your first day at this school been like?"

I love this game. The person that wins gets to ask anyone a question, and the answer can't be a lie.

I just smirked at her. Seriously, I thought that she had learned to use precise questions, not vague ones. Time for a little loophole. That's all I need was to tell them everything and have them all go ballistic…though, that would be funny to see.

"Before or after breakfast?" I ask to specify which one to even let slip about. Hopefully, I still had some luck and she would ask about after breakfast.

Tragically, my luck had apparently followed the last of my nerves and senses out the door.

"Before breakfast, just because I'm curious to know what could have happened before than," she says, talking louder to get the guys attention.

Crap…not good. Both boys looked up from the board and looked at me intently. Not meeting either of their eyes I looked directly at Patti. "I pass for the moment ok? I'll tell you later, just not right now," I say taking the deck and dealing the next hand.

"Oh come on; just answer her question will you? It can't be that bad now can it?" Frank asked, moving closer while poking me in the side. I gave him the evil eye, then asked Patti if she wanted a hit or not. At the moment I didn't care if I won this hand or not. So I didn't even bother to look at my cards. Patti wound up with nineteen, leaving me to turn my cards over which left me with a Jack and a King.

"Alright, do you have your eye on any of the students here? If so, what house and year are they in? Oh, and are they a transfer student?" I didn't even leave her any room for a loophole, except not giving me the name, but I'd get that later.

Her cheeks turned a slight pink color as she said, "Well…um…I'm not sure what year their in, but they are a transfer and are in my house." She says softly, probably hoping that the boys didn't hear anything. Too bad they hadn't gone back to their game yet.

I decided to spare her somewhat, "You wench, who?" I say, acting like I completely forgot about the game.

"Who you calling a wench, you bitch?"

"Trick."

"Slut."

"Skank."

"Bed Wench."

"Prostitute."

"Plastic Bitch."

"Tramp."

"Frank's Bitches," Andrea' voice rang out causing us to stop for a second.

I guess neither of us realized what it was she had said, do to the sole fact that we both turned to her at the same time and said, "_WHAT_?"

"Sorry, I just felt left out," Andrea says, sitting down with an innocent look on her face.

The moment I realized what she had said, I lunged at her. Or at least I tried to anyway. I guess Frank was waiting for it, because the next thing I know, he had his arms around my waist, preventing my lunge at her.

"Whoa, calm down tiger? Andrea didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure," Frank said; his grip on me tightened. "Just calm down will you?"

I guess her comment was the last proverbial straw on the camel's back, because I just snapped big time. I needed to relieve this pent up anger, fear, and just all around frustration. Tragically though, it just happened to be at a vampire, lucky me.

It took until Jon had his hands around my wrists and pressing so hard into the ground, that I finally realized that there were red, slightly bloody, nail marks on both his and Frank's arms. Frank's arms more so, though. Seeing them, I finally stopped flailing my arms around. I looked at Jon's eyes, trying to figure out what had just happened. I have no clue what showed in my eyes-maybe fear- because his eyes softened, almost sad looking.

"Crap! Man that hurt," Frank's slightly hurt voice chimed in the silence of our little group.

"Did I…I mean…I couldn't have…could I?" I stuttered out, looking from one friend's sad, scared, or nervous look to the next. "I did that didn't I?"

"Yeah Hun, you did. You okay?" Jon asked, his hands slowly letting go of my wrists.

"There something you need to tell us?" Patti asked, concerned as she looked at the others.

I looked at them one last time before dropping my gaze down to where my hands laid slightly over Frank's arms. His arms were still bleeding through the red cuts as I said, "I'm so sorry guys. I really am. I have no clue as what just happened."

Yep, it so had to be fear that was in my eyes because I know that I was scared inside my head as to what I had just done to two of my friends without knowing it. Yes, I have before hit them in a joking manor, but that's it…to do something like this without knowing…it's just scary. Then again…there's something you don't see every day, me lunging at one of my friends with the means of wanting to hurt them, literally.

Jen and Andrea were looking over Jon's wounds when I put my hands against my face. I'm not sure whether it really bothered me or not that Frank still had his arms around me or not. Maybe, he kept them there as a safety precaution in a way. Just to make sure that I wouldn't all of a sudden tare into someone else. Honestly, at this point I really didn't care that much. At this moment I needed something to keep me grounded, and if that meant it being Frank, then for once I'd yield and not question it. I took it for the comfort it was probably meant to be.

"Why don't you tell us what's going on?" Andrea said her voice for once soothing and not psychotic. Well… you know what I mean by now.

I slowly lowered my hands away from my face. Taking a deep breath I nodded and started to tell them everything that had happened from the moment I woke up that morning. During the whole story telling, Frank's grip would tighten or loosen depending on what was said. Thankfully the scrapes on his arms weren't as deep as I had feared, for they slowly finally stopped bleeding.

"…and then Andrea said, 'Frank's Bitches'. I guess that was just the last straw to be taken." I looked back at Jon again then turned my head to look at Frank. "Again I'm sorry about the craziness and scratching you guys up," I said, shaking my head and slowly trying to remove Frank's grip on my waist.

"Wow. I mean…well wow. I can't think of anything else," Patti said, looking at me then shaking her own head.

"You ok?" Jen asked.

"Physically or mentally? 'Cuz my nerves are all shot to Hell and I'm wigging out inside my head." I really did try to make light of the whole thing. I really didn't need them to act all careful around me again…I just couldn't take one more dose of that kind of shit.

"Since Ali seems to not want to talk further about this, then I say lets go get something to eat. Lunch is probably already half over anyway," Andrea said, looking down at her wristwatch. This odd look kept appearing on her face, that basically could tell anyone that knew her that she so wished for her laptop back in her possessions once again, poor thing. Whenever something disturbed her, she usually brought out her laptop and wrote about it. The end result of these frustrations were usually that she killed off a character or two. It was therapeutic to her, or something…

With that statement said, we all got up and headed towards the castle. We were almost to the castle stairs when Andrea's statement from earlier finally hit home with Frank.

"Wait a second. Did you call them my bitches?" Frank asked stopping in his tracks.

Andrea looked up at him then at Patti and I. "Um…well…I said…um..._bye_."

With that farewell she ran towards the stairs and had hit the first one when…

"Hey! Come back here Zurcher! You're going to explain yourself shorty!" Frank shouted, running after her. When they both vanished through the main doors, the rest of us broke out laughing at their antics.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Punkette-Witch:** Okay, so this chapter is short 'cuz I say so. Well, actually chapter 5 was too long and I figured making it shorter would help a little. So here it is. Enjoy, and review Kids._

Chapter 6 The Night of Plotted Plans

Most of the tables were empty by the time all of us were on the other side of the Hall doors. Scanning the room, I could see that there were a select few Slytherins present. As far as I could see, Jen was the only Hufflepuff in sight. Ravenclaws were all congregated around one small section of the table towards the door. I came to the conclusion that most—also the loudest—of the students were Gryffindors. The two ex-Durmstrang students in Gryffindor were further away from the rest of the Gryffindors.

Looking over at where Frank and Andrea had gone, I saw that they were sitting across from each other at the Ravenclaw table. Jon had sat down next to Frank on one side and Jen on the other. Patti was sitting next to Andrea, while giving Frank warning glares. I guess everyone wanted to sit together, not that I minded the least little bit. Sitting down, I caught only part of the last sentence of what Andrea said.

"…so anyway I just figured that with all of us sitting here and talking we could scare the crap out of the Ravenclaws as well as the other students some. You know?" Andrea said, looking at me, as I was sitting down on her other side, as if I should know exactly what she was talking about.

I just looked at her for a second. I guess I was just going to have to give her the same response I always gave her when I had no clue what it was she was just talking about. Nodding, I looked at the others then back at her saying, "Sure, I get it, but are you sure it's a wise thing in the long run?"

Ok, so the statement was stupid and shouldn't be able to work as much as it does, but hey the thing is… it works. For as long as I have known her and said that same sentence so often enough, I'm surprised it actually works nine times out of ten. That last one time it didn't work and she had caught me on it…well…hasn't yet.

"Well…I'm sure it will be ok. Come on, who here doesn't want to scare these guys?" as she asked the question, everyone raised their hands in agreement, well, except me of course. I wasn't about to get caught being a mild hypocrite. "They probably don't know that much about being freaks," Andrea finished, muttering under her breath.

As we all laughed at probably how true a statement that was, I looked over at Frank and Jon. They still hadn't cleaned the wounds I had created on their arms. As I looked up to meet Jon's eyes, before telling him so, I came to the realization that they had sat down across from Connor and Ace Ramirez. They were huddled together, talking in soft tones. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but then again I wasn't sure if it was smart for me to know.

Andrea started to talk about how she so despised the color scheme of the Ravenclaw Common Room. That she was already sketching out designs for the new and improved common room. I didn't pay attention to many details, but I managed to catch the words "black" "velvet" "pentagrams" and "bats", so I was pretty sure I didn't want to know anyways.

Every once in a while, Connor or Ace would look up and scowl at my friends and I. Though, I'm not quite sure they realized I was sitting there until I got up. They both looked slightly shocked or something when I did, as though I had just appeared out of nowhere. I just shrugged it all off as I turned back to my friends, ignoring the Ramirez freaks completely. _Okay, so I still didn't know if they were brothers or cousins; so for now its freaks, because I say so._ I told them that I wanted to go crash for a bit and that I would see them later. I _so_ needed to crash for a bit. But, I guess everything was back to normal, even if I wasn't personally…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_No one's POV…_

For the next day and a half it was pretty peaceful for the exchange students from the Academy. So peaceful, that a few things were to be forgotten, misplaced, or not mentioned again among the group. Luckily for the rest of the students and faculty, they hadn't caused any trouble through pranks. But…that wasn't suffice it to say that certain people weren't plotting any. They all received their schedules the morning of Sunday during breakfast. Andrea finally got the Ravenclaw Common Room looking normal…or at least her version of normal.

The poor little Ravenclaws were left to just deal with it to. Even with all their intellect and studies, not a one could find a spell or counter-curse to fix what the little vampire did. The décor was made permanent by the residential vamp. Anyone who tried to change it back, erase, or alter in anyway; wound up with a shock. They would wake up in the Hospital Wing with pointy ears, a bushy tail, iridescent wings, and being shrunk down to gnome size.

During Sunday, Andrea was so happy to see all these gnome sized, pointy eared, bushy tailed, winged Ravenclaw students running around; that her personality did a completely one-eighty for the whole day. Really who in their right mind would fault her for it? She was actually surrounded by people shorter then her for once. Though, in all honesty, they could fault her for one thing. She really did try to be the 'Muggle Queen of all that is Magical'…

Of course, one could argue that the double-detentions she received from that McGonagall woman for pulling such a stunt might have dampened her spirits…but really, she seemed to be happy that an adult was finally recognizing her for the troublemaker she really was…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Sunday Night before the first day of classes…_

_Mystery POV…_

I sat in front of the Slytherin Common Room fire. It was close to midnight and the others still hadn't arrived as of yet. As I sat in my usual plush green chair, waiting, I rechecked the silencing charms I had placed on all of the doors before heading downstairs to wait for the others. Satisfied that all the charms were securely in place and hadn't been tampered with, I set my wand back into my robes pocket. I had sent three of my fellow Slytherins out to get the rest of us nearly an hour ago.

My eyes dropped once again to the papers that sat in front of me on top of the mahogany table. They were plans of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and small parts of the Ministry. None of the plans were complete as of yet, but they were close to being done. By the time Graduation rolled around that year, preparations for the attacks would be underway and the day of Graduation would be for more of a celebration for many things, not just graduating.

Smirking at the fire in contemplation of these thoughts, the Common room door opened to reveal six boys all wearing white masks, in its entrance. Each one of them had a crest upon their robes, whether it was Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor. Like I would have a Hufflepuff within my ranks. As for the Gryffindors…well…each great ruler has have spies within the ranks of the enemy. Seeing them, I motioned for them to sit in the vacant chairs around both the table and the fireplace. As each boy sat, I shuffled through the stack of plans, spreading them out along the whole surface of the table.

"Report," I said curtly.

"It would seem, my Young Lord, that our plans have both become easier as well as more difficult." The man said, sitting across from me, with the Ravenclaw crest upon his chest.

"Explain."

"Well…my lord, it would seem that with the presence of these new exchange students, it is both a good and bad thing. You see, we have finally figured out what has happened to two of our potentials, but their friendship with their friends might cause problems. It has come to our awareness that…"

"That the preparations made years ago concerning these two have created very useful qualities in both of them. The thing is, their close ties of friendship…might interfere with our plans of getting them onto our side, my lord." The younger of the Gryffindors said, interrupting the Ravenclaw.

Nodding in understanding of the problem, I thought it over. Those friends of theirs' would create a lot of problems if not handled quickly and in the best way. Andrea's father had worked along side with all of ours and our old Lord. He had proven his loyalty many times. His final declaration of loyalty was to hand his only daughter over to our old lord and to our cause. Though, his attempt did fail; by making her a hybrid, he had unwittingly made her more useful, if controlled correctly. Hmm…though turning her over to our side finally probably wouldn't take that much effort, with how she is. Her becoming one of mine could wait 'til all the plans were done. Besides, I had watched her…she was devious, and perfect for us…

My thoughts then turned over to the other potential. She was supposed to be mine long ago. She barely just slipped out of my grasp back then. Her father turned out to be a spy. He was part of the old Lord's inner circle stationed in United States. His true nature was only found out after the old Lord's death. I had found out later that he had been a spy from almost the second he was brought within the ranks. As for the girl's mother, she was a completely loyal—like all the others in her family—'til almost the very end. He had turned her against our old Lord. Now their daughter…there was a distinct possibility that she could have some abilities that not even she knew of. The dark magic that, at one time, had run through her parents' blood could have affected her, their child, in strange ways…or it might not have at all. She could be normal, or even below so. It was unsure, for now. She would take longer to bring over then Andrea. For this would take a lot of precision.

"Alright, Then I believe that the best way to win both of them over is either by their greatest desire, or their greatest weakness," I said, looking from one boy to the next.

"Well…Andrea's greatest weakness is her father, and her greatest desire is to have the security that he is dead and won't ever be coming back." One of the Slytherin boys said thoughtfully.

"Then what do you suggest?" I ask, smirking at him.

"That, my Lord, that you send some people to go _visit_ her father, and eliminate him. Or bring him into hiding and make the rest of the magical world _believe_ him dead."

"Both dually noted, and under advisement to be decided by next we meet." The Slytherin nodded and sat back, waiting for other suggestions as well as I was. "And for our other vixen?"

"Well when it comes to her…it seems that we can't use her greatest desire, for we do not know it. As for the other…well…seduction maybe?" the older of the Gryffindors stated their suggestion.

"Hmm…it might work. Though, pray tell, why seduction?" I ask smirking at him one eyebrow rose mockingly.

"Well…it would seem that she fears it, as well as off balanced by it. If some thing is off balanced enough, it falls, right? So if she becomes that far off balanced, she will fall. Which means someone must be there to catch her." A very smug tone could be heard through his mask.

"So you mean to say is that one of us should be there to catch her, not _if_ she falls, but when?"

"Exactly my lord."

"Agreed. Now on to the construction of these plans…"

XXXX

They sat up the rest of the night, adding and correcting their plans for each area, as well as figuring out the next time they would meet to discuss the progress of their plans. Their main target being the newest female member of the Gryffindor house…


	8. Chapter 7

**Jinxeh**: I like eggs. O.0 I just thought you should know that. And jeez, Punkette, Ali is such a drama queen in this chapter…oh well. I hope you all respect the time and effort I put into beta'ing this stuff for you… :) Later!

**Punkette: **Ok for the millionth time I'm sorry that my grammar sucks. And thank you lots. Sorry it took a while kids, but have fun reading, and please remember to review.

Chapter 7 Hallway Brawls

The next morning, I awoke to extremely bright and cheerful dorm mates. _Seriously, shouldn't there be a rule against that?_ Of course, I did know that I needed to get up soon anyways so that I could get something to eat before I had to go to classes, so I had a mission to distract me from their cheerfulness. There was that word again, _classes._

_Why do people have to go to those, again? They're pointless beyond belief and don't hold much, if any value in the real world. Okay…okay…I'm ranting again, while using false facts to make a stupid, idiotic point that…oh I don't even remember what point I was trying to make anyway._

For a small moment, I considered simply skipping my classes for the day since I was tired, was suffering from academic memory loss, and…well…it was morning, so I wasn't really functioning properly. However, I soon dismissed this thought since I was sure that it wouldn't go over well since it was the first official day of school. Like I would go up to my teachers and the Headmaster tomorrow and say, _'I'm sorry Professors, but I couldn't make it for the first day's lessons, due to the fact that I couldn't get out of bed, let alone care.'_ Oh yeah, that would really go over well.

Sighing, I rolled over in bed and fell onto the floor. Smooth move, I know.

"Owww," I muttered under my breath as I got up in the hopes of being able to function well enough by the time classes started. Luckily, my small fall had not caused me any injuries, but several of my dorm-mates were giggling under their breath. Ignoring everyone in the room, I went to the bathroom, took a quick shower, changed, grabbed my stuff, and was out the dormitory doors before anyone could even bother to get into a conversation with me.

Reaching the Common Room, I looked around carefully, and only seeing a couple of small groups of the younger kids, I breathed a sigh of relief. I still got the creeps every time I came down here. I couldn't help but think of that stranger that had accosted me the other day in that room. That whole day still seemed so odd and out of the crazy normal I was used to… Shaking my head, I left the Common Room without another worried thought to invade my mind.

On my way to the Great Hall, I got lost when the steps decided to move on me. For a while, I was stuck on the fourth or fifth floor, trying to figure a way to get down to the main floor. _I wasn't sure which floor it was due to the fact that they all look the same to me and probably everyone else too. _

It took until I finally admitted defeat and asked a ghost for help that I found the right set of stairs and was able to leave the stupid floor behind. I made sure that my conversation with the ghost was short-lived, nevertheless—he was a cheerful enough man, but my eyes had easily found the divide between his neck and shoulders—which wasn't quite hidden under his small but decorative ruff—within the first few minutes of talking to him. It amazed me that his head was even able to stay on at _all_, really…

By the time I got to the Hall and over to my table, I realized that it was packed with most of the Gryffindor students, except me, of course. Looking down the table I came to the sad realization that the only available spot at the table was beside Connor Ramirez and across from Ace Ramirez. _Damn_. Taking a deep breath and admitting defeat, I walked down between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables.

_I guess the banners hanging over the tables switch spots every few days or so, oh well._

Setting my stuff down on the floor, I sat down and started to get something to eat. I was too hungry to care that I was sitting next to them. Hunger will do that to people, make them careless, stupid, and just make you forgetful. That was defiantly what was happening to me as I stuffed my face. _Definitely_ not smart on my part.

Thinking about it as I sat down, I had heard that there were still some miniature Ravenclaws still floating around, and wouldn't be able to attend the first of the classes today. Lucky ravens.

Just for the hell of it, I should go and sneak into the Ravenclaw Common Room and try and change it; just so I wont be able to go to classes. What a happy thought. But darn it, I'd get in even more trouble because I don't belong there.

I sigh shaking my head.

_Well it was the thought that counted…right?_

Grabbing some apple cinnamon muffins, an omelet, and some hot honey pomegranate tea; I set out to eat every last bit so I could make haste in getting to class. I know—me, want to get to class on time! Well, class work beats having to talk to people I didn't know or care to know…

"Hey," the boy next to me said, getting my attention. _Wow, what a unique conversation-starter!_

I looked up at him quizzically, and didn't even try to hide the slight annoyance on my face at being talked to when I so obviously was not yet awake. I really could care less what the other Gryffindors thought of it. Yes, so maybe I didn't like the people in my house very much, so sue me. My friends—or maybe just Andrea—often referred to me as anti-social because of my tendencies to not want to get to know new people. I happen to disagree—it's not that I don't want to get to know them…it's just that I don't _like_ people, for the most part and with the exception of my friends.

"I believe that we got off on the wrong foot the other day. My name is Connor Ramirez."

The boy continued, holding out his hand, expecting me to be all cordial and shake it. Looking at him closely I tried to figure out if he was being sincere or just being an idiot. I hesitated for only a second during my determination of him. Then, coming to the conclusion that he was being at least _half_ sincere, I reach what little distance there was between us and shook his hand. He still had white hair and, for the life of me, I still couldn't figure out if it was natural. I wasn't about to ask. Maybe later I could get Andrea to do it for me—she never had a problem with asking anyone anything, even if it was incredibly personal and embarrassing. At our old school, she'd gotten detention for asking one of our instructors if his toupee was made from real human hair, or road kill.

"Alexandrea Martin," I said, tilting my head slightly in greeting, and finally deciding to give him my name.

"That's my brother, Ace," he said, pointing across the table at the guy that was trying to ignore us completely but was doing a stupendously horrible job at it. He still had both studs in his ear, and strangely enough his hair looked less spiky then it did the past few days. _Why are all of these new exchange students dressed like wannabe punks, anyway? Weird…_ "He's a seventh year while I'm a sixth year," Connor continued in his explanation before turning back to me. "What year are you in, by the way?"

"Not that it's any of your business what year I'm in…" I muttered under my breath, taking another sip of tea. I told you that I was a horrible morning person. Realizing this, I looked up at him, trying to smile but still sighing the words, "Sixth year, like you."

"Alright, alright…everyone knows everyone. _Now _that every thing is in order and ironed out between everyone, can the rest of us get back to having lives?" Ace's voice rang out, drawing both Connor's and my attention.

When I looked up at him, he was running his hand through his hair, which just made it messier. Now that I looked more closely at him, he looked like he only had about two hours of sleep, if that; his eyes were tired and ringed by barely noticeable dark circles, and his skin was rather ashen. Though, be that as it may, it was no excuse for him to be snippy and a pain in the neck.

"Hmm…not necessarily between everyone, you know? There is still the slight hostility and invasion of personal property problems between you and me. Oh, please tell me I'm wrong in thinking so, but I believe that both of us know that there is still that problem between us, no?" By the time I was finished talking I was grinning at what my small speech had done to the poor sap's face.

His eyes had grown to look like shiny steel, his face was tinted a cherry red color. As his eyebrows drew together, he let out a slightly threatening growl under his breath. The growl was loud enough to make the younger kids around us quickly grab their stuff and scurry away. Obviously they were a little skittish of the older kids. As I looked out of the corner of my eye at Conner, he looked like he was really on edge and could snap at the slightest thing, though in a more nervous way when compared to his brother. Whether it was to run with the other kids away from the transaction or to growl himself; I had no clue.

"If I were you _dear_, I _wouldn't_ start something _you _wouldn't be able to _finish_ on a good day. Now shut it will you?" he said, through gritted teeth. "Stupid little girl," he muttered underneath his breath. Whether I was suppose to hear what he said or not, I wasn't sure, but I acted as if I hadn't and turned back to Connor. I was so not in the mood to gripe at someone even _more_…

"So…what _is_ our first lesson, anyway? I don't have my schedule—I kind of let one of my friends look at it yesterday, and still haven't gotten it back yet," I explained at his look of slight confusion, but he took out his schedule anyway.

As he unfolded his schedule, he looked at it carefully before saying, "It seems we have double potions with Slytherin first thing. Though…why they would start us off with a double class first thing in the beginning of the school year is beyond me..."

"Well, besides the fact that its potions, it doesn't seem to be that bad," I said with a slight shrug. Imagine my surprise as his face started to cloud over into sadness as he stared at the paper in his hands. "Oh…you have friends in Slytherin don't you?" I asked, my hand waving in front of his face and obscuring his staring contest with an unblinking paper.

As I asked the question, I could hear a snort come from the other side of the table. As I looked at Ace, I could see a slightly malicious glint in his eyes as he looked from his brother to me before he said, "_Used_ to have friends in _Slytherin_…"

He said 'Slytherin' with such a loathsome and vicious tone that I shivered involuntarily. I swear, there was something thoroughly wrong with that guy, and it was a different kind of wrong compared to Andrea. At least she has an excuse to act the way she does…

"It would seem that our so called _true_ friends aren't our friends anymore," Connor said, his voice soft and timid as he still looked at the paper.

"Yeah, the minute they started to hang around other Slytherins our so call **'**friendship' went out the door, right quick. A friendship we had held for most of our lives, and it went down the drain in a matter of three and a half days. _Now drop it and let it go_." Ace's voice hissed out as he began to stand up to leave.

"Fine, I'll let it go, but I will say this…that may be the case with your friends, but mine aren't like that." My voice was getting louder and louder as I spoke. I knew that they had to be thinking that, as my friends were in different houses as well. "I know them well enough to know that! They all might be absolutely psychotic…but it doesn't matter what houses they're in!"

I was done being angry, well…at least the loud frustrated angry that people are used to dealing with. _No_…I was getting to that scary point, where I'm just frustrated that I just don't care anymore, where I start to get on the dangerous side of things. Taking a deep breath, I doused myself into that scary stuff.

The next things I said were in a very quiet, emotionless, calm and controlled voice. "Don't you _dare_ even try to insinuate that they are going to do the same thing your friends did, because _buddy_…that is so a stereotypical comment!"

That said and done, I myself got up and started to head out of the Hall, my food untouched. I really wasn't hungry anymore. My blood felt like it was molten lava running through my veins heating my skin to the point that it wasn't a light shade of pink, but more on the red side of the color spectrum. Behind me, I thought I heard Ace ask his brother "Did she just call me _Buddy_?" in a confused voice, but didn't turn around to look at them again.

Perhaps what they had said struck a nerve—perhaps really, I had thought since the beginning that if my friends and I were all separated into different houses, that we could fall apart, even if I refused to believe that was true. Them talking about their friends doing the same thing…it was scary to see that it could actually happen, even if it wasn't with my group of friends that it did…

I still had about a half an hour left before classes started for the day. I really wasn't paying any attention to where I was going; I was just letting my feet carry me wherever they felt like going. I don't remember leaving the castle through the front doors or when I started to run down to the lake. I really didn't see where I was going, I was seeing red.

All of a sudden, I hit the stump of a tree and tumbled forward. I was breathing so hard that I felt like my throat might constrict and cut off every ounce of air I had and could get, away from me. Both my head and heart were pounding in a painfully loud beat that I believe only I could hear. I felt like I would pass out from either the painful pounding my body was going through then, or from the lack of air my body was getting into its system. My knees were both pressed hard into the earth, trying to keep me upright. That battle was slowly failing. One hand was on my pounding head, as if to keep everything from spilling out onto the darkened earth, and inside my head; and the other was pressed firmly against the ground on my side, to help support myself.

I was somewhere not quite half way between the forest and what Jen had told me on one of our walks earlier this past weekend to be called the 'Wamping Willow', or something like that. I was facing the castle and had lost my backpack somewhere along the run I took. Looking back I saw it by the lake, but it was a small speck. It looked as if the dirt and sand around the lake had covered it slightly somehow. After looking up to see what surrounded my poor body, I fell sideways onto the ground. Rolling over onto my back I looked up at the white puffy clouds that floated through the air without a care in the world. I was too spent to go and get my bag just yet, so I just closed my eyes for a bit, trying to get my body to relax enough to recuperate. I somehow knew that I still had plenty of time to go and get my bag and make it into the castle. So I decided to rest.

Might as well enjoy the good days of nice weather around here, while they lasted. Right? The clouds were going to be dark and dreary around here soon enough. Running a hand through my hair, I lay there, trying to relearn how to breathe properly, like a normal person. Hah! 'Like a normal person', yeah, right, me ever acting normal by any means would be to say that everyone looks good with multi-neon colored hair. Bah. One really can't be something they never were.

Turning over onto my side, I tried to see if I could get up yet, or if I would fall down. Luckily, I was able to get up off the ground. Standing was harder then just getting up to one's knees. I crashed a couple dozen times back to the ground before I was finally able to get my feet underneath me. With my hands on my knees I looked around to see as to how much time had passed when all of a sudden my vision blurred around the edges. Taking a deep breath, I waited for my vision to clear, then started to walk over to get my bag and head back inside.

For as long as I could remember, I had always had the tendency to completely flip out whenever the stress became too much for me—I wasn't like Andrea in that I could simply bottle up the anger and sadness and yet let out all of my craziness and weirdness instead. I let it out, and sometimes I really couldn't stop it. Still, I forced myself to stifle my harsh breathing and harsh words threatening to roll off my tongue when I walked back into the castle.

When I got inside and down into the dungeons, it was completely empty. Classes hadn't started as of yet so I waited outside the class room for Frank and Patti to show up_. Hopefully, both still in one piece. I hope they didn't kill each other. I really don't feel like having to explain to their parents how either of them died…_

Setting my stuff down against the wall about twenty or so feet away from the class doors, I sat down and waited for everyone else. I didn't feel like trekking my way back down the hall, up the stairs, and through the Great Hall doors. I wasn't hungry; most of my friends probably didn't even make it to breakfast- so I couldn't eat with them if I wanted to-, and I sure as Hell wasn't in the mood to deal with Ace again. That would _so_ be bad for him.

When I finally heard others walking down the hall, I got up, grabbing my bag. As I waited for them to come around the corner I saw Frank and Patti in the lead. Well more Patti than Frank anyways. They both looked to be in one piece, or at least from what I could see. Patti looked like she was trying to out distance him as much as she could. As she got closer to me she smiled, though her eyes still held a heat of fire only extreme violence would fix.

I waited for her to get closer before I spoke, " Hey Patti, is everything…" I didn't even get to finish my question when she answered.

"Keep him away from me before I _kill him_ and you have one less friend!" Patti said, pure venom almost dripping through out those words as she headed inside of the classroom.

As she vanished through the doors, I could see Frank through my peripheral vision as he tried to sneak pass me and into the room after her.

"Frank? What did you do now?" I ask, turning to face him completely. I could see a grin plastered on his face.

As I looked closer it looked more like the grin from the Cheshire cat from Alice and Wonderland. Man I hated that little kid story. (Not like Andrea—she used to draw scenes from the movie and book all of the time, but then would add some gore into it as well; a beheaded Cheshire Cat, a bloodied Alice holding a knife…weird…) Between that grin and Patti's attitude towards Frank I could tell it had to have had something to do with Frank's latest prank, whatever that might have been. Also, it would seem that Frank was stupid enough to either make it an individual prank against her or even stupider to include her in one of his bigger ones. Stupid naive little boy, this one is.

He didn't say a word as people passed him to get inside the class. Frustrated at being ignored by the immature friend of mine, I grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall to talk. Yes, though he is a pain in the butt almost continually through out the day, I felt the need to give him a heads up on Patti's mood or I was going to be an eye witness to an untimely death at her hands. Ignoring every last protest to come out of his mouth, and every attempt to get away from me and out of my grasp; I dragged his unwilling body down the hall and around the corner.

As we turned the corner I used my movements and his own momentum forward so that his body turned and his back connected to the wall. I stood there with my hand basically in a vice grip on his arm as he gave in and just leaned against the wall, waiting for what I had to say. _Oh yeah, Ali, you're a cool kid now for holding him here like this. Like he couldn't get away from me in two seconds flat…wait, then why doesn't he? Hmm…_ From where I stood, I could easily see down the hall and towards the doors of the classroom as well as the adjacent hallway.

I was forced to look up at him in order to look him in the eyes as I talked to him. Sheesh I hated when I was shorter than my friends. The only one shorter than me was Andrea and well…she is self explanatory by now isn't she? I've known her long enough to place her into a category all her own. It's like saying Frank's Frank. It's just self explanatory.

Squeezing his arm I asked, "How about you stop ignoring me and answer my question? What the heck did you do? And don't give me your usual roundabout answer that just means in short 'nothing'. 'Cuz buddy you're about two steps away from being dead or if your lucky, sent to the Hospital Wing!" _That is what they call it around here, right? At my school, it was just called the Infirmary…_ "That one way trip would be courtesy of Miss Patti Jones. Now spill or else."

I looked at him for a second hoping for an answer, but I didn't get one quick enough. From the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was contemplating some things. Hopefully what I had just said, but knowing my luck with this boy…he isn't.

Sighing in exasperation at his slowness today, I turned to look down the hall. I guess in that moment was when Frank finally made his decision because I so didn't even see it coming. Two seconds after I looked away from him, my arm was grabbed by the same arm I already had a hold of. He twisted my arm so that I was forced to let go of his own arm. It hurt enough that all my focus was placed on the pain and nothing else.

Due to that, all I could do was allow what happened to happen and not be able to stop it. Honestly, it wasn't anything out of the usual for us, really. We did get violent sometimes. It was part of our charm as a group of friends. It just happened to be more- often then not- Frank and I then anyone else.

_Sometimes I wondered if at least some of us were the reincarnations of the Three Stooges or something. There did use to be five of them, after all, what with the changing around of characters. Don't ask how I know that. Well actually its just one word…Andrea._

As he twisted my arm around, it forced me to turn with it so it wouldn't break. As I turned with the arm I felt him poke me in the side at such an angle that it forced me to turn that one fraction of an inch the wrong way. The next thing I know, my butt is on the ground, my back facing Frank, and my arm held above my head, but not hurting anymore.

"I didn't do anything that she would kill me for, so I really don't know what she's mad about. It was a simple prank, nothing more, nothing less. It isn't my fault that she took it in such a way, that it put it in a bad light, alright? If she's still mad can you talk to her for me, please?" Frank said, his voice quiet, but still loud enough to carry through the halls of any dungeon.

"One, that was a cheep shot and you know it. Secondly, that freakin' _hurt,_ you dork! Third, you didn't answer my question, you evaded it. And lastly, sure I'll talk to her depending on what the prank is, but don't get your hopes up," I said, not moving an inch except to talk for fear- well, actually, the annoyance- of what he would do next.

"Thanks Ali," he said, relief very evident in his voice for those two simple words.

"Good, now that we have that straightened out, may I please have some help getting up and my arm back?"

Before I had even finished my statement, I could hear chuckling coming from above me. Soon after that I felt him turn me around from the arm he still had possession of. Looking up at him from the floor, I scowled at him for his laughter and trickery. He moved his hand from my arm to my hand, then held out his other one for me to take. Grabbing both of his hands, I let him pull me up. Really, it was only fair because he was the one that put me there.

When I finally on my feet again, I took the opportunity to back hand him in the ribs. It wasn't like it was really hard, but he deserved some payback for being such a jerk. With that done, I brushed my now poorly dirtied jeans and robe off.

_Stupid dungeon floors. Seriously, they need someone to come down here and dust or something. Anything would help it immensely._

When we were both situated and had all of our things, we started to head back to the classroom. Strange, how easily we can reconcile our differences, huh? Frank and I had always had a special bond that had allowed us to do that, leaving some of our other friends to say that we should date, which we'd both heard repeated times. Nuh-uh, don't think so. Andrea dated Frank for the grand total of a whole day back when they were fourteen, and it hadn't turned out well. I wasn't going go through that as well.

There in front of the doors stood Orion, Connor and the other two Slytherins from Durmstrang. Was there one more from Durmstrang that was placed in Slytherin or was I wrong? I didn't remember. I still had no clue as to what their names were as of yet. It looked like there was arguing going on between the small group. Well…except maybe from Orion, but then again I don't think he argues with very many people, not that I know of anyway.

Orion was leaning against the wall beside the door, looking somehow bored and amused all at the same time. His arms were crossed and his bag was on the floor by his feet. Connor was backed into the wall opposite the classroom doors. His bag and supplies were scattered across the middle of the hallway. The two other Slytherins were to either side of him cutting off all possible exits. There were wands in both of their hands. One pointed at Connors chest, the other at his temple.

As we got closer I could hear them talking in hushed voices coming from the group of three. None of them acted as if they saw us coming closer, for all their attention was still focused on Connor. Hopefully things weren't about to get violent because whether or not I liked any of them at all as friends I would still help Connor out. He was out numbered and looked scared out of his mind, while standing off against his old friends.

Frank grabbed my wrist and started to pull me to the other side of the hall away from the small group saying, "Come on, we need to get to class. And you don't need to get yourself involved with whatever they're doing."

I scowled at Frank for the last comment, but didn't say a word. We both knew how I felt about bullies. Hell, anyone that had ever known me for about a month would know that fact. Sighing, I bit my tongue, shut my mouth and didn't say a word as we walked closer to the doors.

We were about fifteen feet from where Orion stood, when he finally saw us. He looked happy for some reason when he saw me. Though it didn't last when he saw Frank next to me. When his eyes shifted to where Frank's hand still clasped my wrist like a vice grip–which hurt slightly-he scowled.

Really I wasn't dense in the fact that Orion might like me, but I sure didn't like him. It was also a little strange…I was always the rather pudgy girl with the plain brown hair and the plain brown eyes and the weird fiery temper, and most boys from my old school seemed to take that to mean I had a sign hanging around my neck stating "No dating!" or something. Still, he looked kind of threatened by Frank, which I really didn't understand because well…it's Frank. Frank is not threatening at all. Well at least not when around me. Some scary little part of me believes that if I didn't know Frank liked girls _a lot, _I would think he was gay. Most of the girls at our old school had certainly thought so. It's just how he acts some times.

I didn't feel up to dealing with Orion's threatened disposition.

"Hello Orion, you trying to hide from the Slytherin girls as well?" I asked, stopping dead in my tracks, forcing Frank to either let go of my wrist or stop with me. Luck was with me and he just kept walking towards the classroom.

"No. Why would I be?" Orion asked me while glaring at Frank, as he walked by him.

"Just curious," I said to him, before I pointed my next comments towards Frank. "Freeze Frank." Surprisingly he did exactly as I told him to. "If you value your life, you won't go in there just yet. If you do you will be lucky to survive with your _body parts intact_. Let me talk to her first. Or at least let me get in between you two, before she decides that you need a few more holes and a few less parts to your body, alright?"

I ignored the others in the hall as I looked at Frank's back carefully. Throughout my little warning speech, I watched as his muscles tensed along his back. When I got to the last sentence, I could have sworn that he shivered out of fear, but that might have been wishful thinking. I liked him more when I could unsettle him and keep him on edge. Life was more interesting that way.

"Yeah sure, go right on ahead. Though, I thought that once she got like that, that no one was safe. Friend, foe, male, female; any of it," he said, turning back to face me slowly. He looked a little disgruntled by either my comments or his own; maybe both. Hell for all I know, it could very well be for the sole fact that we were discussing this shit in front of strangers. Though, I hated it when I couldn't read my friends like the many books I stuck my nose into, stuck in the trunk at the bottom of my bed.

"Ah, but that's just it, isn't it, Frank? If you are one or two of those things; you aren't safe from her by any means. For I do not fall into those places like you do, now do I?"

I waited to see if he would answer, but he was either very unsure or had no clue as to what means my madness would turn to next. Hehehe. Wouldn't I like to now as well, instead of as it leaves my mouth?

"Ok, fine. I'll explain. I don't fall into just one category, nor two, but in actuality I fall into three. For I am her friend, a female, and her blooded sister. Don't ask when we did that, for you will never know unless Andrea _and_ Patti agree to tell as well."

With that said and done, I turned around and faced our small audience. Orion still stood leaning against the wall. The only difference was that one eyebrow was cocked and he was smirking at the two of us. The others had moved away from the far wall, as if they had found a new target away from Connor. Connor on the other hand was sitting on the ground, his back to the wall, his knees up to his chest and his arms on his knees. He looked somewhat relieved from the attention going to someone else for the moment.

I didn't know why, but I really did want to help Connor out. Some would claim it Gryffindor pride, though I believed it to be simple morals. I just couldn't help but assist those of much needed help. Whether they would admit it or not was a different matter entirely.

I kind of forgot about Frank's comment from earlier about staying out of it. Heck, I forgot about Frank entirely when I turned around to face the others. Well, that was until I felt him enter my personal space back behind me.

"Ali you have class to get to, do you not?" His voice was as quiet as it was when he was talking to me on the way over here.

I didn't even bother to turn around to face him. He was being a hypocrite about that sentence and would get to the truly meaningful one soon enough anyways.

"Yes, I do. Though, that doesn't mean I don't have time to do some things first. Class doesn't start for another three to five minutes anyway. Hmm, maybe I should take a page out of your book and skip class. I'm sure I could amuse myself before the next period. What do you think? Could I pull it off? Or would I turn into the hypocrite of whom the book is from, which I took the paper out of?"

I could tell I was getting on his nerves, but as to how much was still up for questioning. Really I wasn't trying to create more problems; I just needed an outlet for all the craziness that Hogwarts was making worse. I really wish I could go back to the Academy. Heck I would deal with Mrs. Foster for the remaining years of school just to go back.

I shivered at the last thought. I must have lost track of time in my thoughts again because I didn't know that Frank had said anything until he put his hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

"What?"

"You didn't hear a word I said did you?" I just shook my head and tried to focus. "I said that you should try not to get involved in things you shouldn't. But knowing you you'll keep doing it anyway no matter what I say huh? So my final statement is this: If you must get involved make sure you can get out of it in one piece- body, soul, and mind- not in pieces. Oh, and stick to the key points as to why you are involved."

With that the hand left my shoulder, my eyes still on the two Slytherins, Orion's mocking eyes on mine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Frank move over to stand next to Orion, talking to him in hushed tones.

My mind made up and Frank's –once in blue moon- wisdom still in the forefront of my mind. I walked over to the two Slytherins and one Gryffindor. I was either fearless, really brave, or really, really stupid for doing what it was I was doing now. They both either were clenching or readjusting their grips on their wands.

Connor just looked up at me questioningly. The whole time I walked over towards them, my eyes never left the two snakes. Both of their expressions said everything. Evil plots, anger, hate, mistrust, and suspicion flashed every once in a while across each of their eyes. The one with the scar across his collarbone just stood there, smirking, while the other looked like he was going to pounce and draw blood at the first wrong move.

"Hello, boys!" I said cheerfully, making them look at me as though I was completely insane. "Hey, I got an idea! How's about you leave Conner here alone, and quit being idiot bullies?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Punkette: **Okay kids, a couple of things to mention here. At certain points during this chapter and any following ones, there will be written discussions between the students from the Academy. These notes should be assumed to be in the code that Ali created so that no one else can read them. I will eventually make a key so that you can tell one person's writing from the next, though I sincerely doubt it's necessary. Thanks, and tell me what you think when you review!

**Jinxeh**: Um…I have nothing to say, I suppose. Though Punkette should be grateful for my beta'ing this chapter—this chapter was beta'd as I sat hunched over in a tiny bunk in the back of my family's camper at after 2 in the morning. Yeah. o.0 Sleep? What's that?

**Extra Note**: Don't judge Ali as a Mary-Sue. Snape is a git. We know this. Ali is not a celebrity. We know _that_, as well. Snape shows favoritism towards Slytherins, and obviously does not towards Gryffindors, meaning that although it's doubtful that he will go out of his way to deliberately harass a Gryffindor (excluding the incidents with Longbottom, and a few others) he has his moments. So…yeah.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Practical Potions

I just shook my head at their antics, however weird they were. I walked passed them and held out a hand to Connor.

"So would you like to get up and join the rest of us in class, or is your butt stuck to the cold dungeon floor?" I asked, trying to make a light joke out of things. I smiled down at him reassuringly when I saw a shred of fear running across his eyes, when he looked over at the other two.

Hesitating for only a second, he nodded and grabbed my hand, and I hauled him up off the grungy floor. I didn't let go as he picked up his stuff and started to walk toward the class doors. His hand gripped mine for dear life. I didn't let go until we got inside the classroom. Nodding to him, I finally did let his fingers slip past mine, and headed over to the empty seat next to Patti. I helped him then; he was on his own now that he was out of 'danger', so to speak. Patti looked at me, then at Conner, and then back.

"Well?" she asked, her anger momentarily forgotten, with the strange entrance of mine; I took the offered diversion.

"Well what?" I asked, trying to look innocent…which was strange since, in this case, I _was_ somewhat innocent.

I wasn't sure if she was talking about the walking in with Connor or the being late, and possible discussion with Frank. So, being smart—for once—and playing it safe, I decided to steer the conversation to the former rather than the latter of those two choice thoughts.

As her eyes started to narrow at me, as if she was trying to read my mind, I started to talk.

"Well, Conner just needed some help with some things going on with some of the old boys from Durmstrang. What was the name of the three—or was it four?—guys that got sorted into your house from that school?" I asked, rummaging through my backpack.

"Let me guess—you weren't paying attention to the Sorting, were you?"

"Well…_somewhat_…not really. Though give me some credit. I was paying attention to where _you_ guys were being sorted."

She just looked at me, smirking.

"Right…any who…I think it was Durin…something, I can't remember his last name…Donovan…Moreasu, I think, and Brand Dubois. I think one of them is in our year, and the other two are in seventh."

I stopped rummaging through my backpack for a second and looked at her.

"Do you know who the one with the scar is, and who the other one with shaggy brown hair is too?"

"Um…I think the one with the scar is Brand Dubois and the other is Durin…whatever his last name is. The last one is in our grade. Year. Whatever they call them here. Why?"

"_Those_ would be the two that were out in the hall. You should have seen Connor's face, though…he looked so scared. Supposedly, those guys are supposed to be his _friends_," I said, turning away and pulling my book out, and a quill and parchment.

I frowned down at the quill and parchment. I had only used a quill and parchment once while in Art Class—and even then, I had ended up putting so many holes in the one little piece of Chinese parchment from just try to write my name, that it looked like a cat had gotten a hold of it and made it shredded paper to be used it as a litter box.

Patti's experience wasn't that much better than mine. Her first time using the stuff, and she had put one hole in the paper, and then 'accidentally' scraped it across the paper, leaving a rip across the entire paper, and almost making it two pieces instead of one. I always figured she did it on purpose to make the teacher mad, but no one really knew except her.

I looked back up at Patti, then back down at the quill and parchment, and then back up at her. I sighed.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

All I received in response was a nod and a grin back. In two seconds we had both traded the quills and parchment for notebooks and pencils.

When I lifted my head back up from my book bag, I saw a shadow cast across the floor and over a part of my back pack. Thinking that it might have been the teacher, I looked up at the figure as I straightened in my chair and placed my stuff upon the desk.

The figure behind me was none other then the Slytherin boy from in the hallway.

"Schmidt." Patti's voice came from behind me as I looked at the boy before me, unblinking. As I looked back behind him, I saw Orion come in through the doors. As the doors closed, Orion went to the only available desk in the back and sat down as if he was in _heaven_ in this desolately chilling atmosphere.

"What you did out there better not happen _again_, for your benefit," muttered Schmidt in annoyance. "You Gryffindors and fearless bravery…" he scoffed. "That kind of attitude will get you killed one of these days. Stay out of our business. It doesn't concern you in any way. If you feel the need to step in and try to save him again you _will_ regret it, I _promise_ you. If you don't believe me, I'm sure after a _private_ conversation…" He cracked his knuckles together to emphasize his point, "you'll remember not to. Someone has to put you Gryffindorks in your rightful places, so be it. Heck I'll do it out of common courtesy to the rest of the school. I'll even have _fun_ doing it, too."

After he was done talking to me, he turned his attention to Patti. The look he gave her was so malicious; I wanted to hit him in the gut, or hide myself. Sheesh, what was it with these other transfers? Or was I just a blind American teenage girl, unable to differentiate the differences between the boys I was used to, and the pompous jackasses here? God only knew that answer, because I sure didn't.

"As for you, _Jones_, if I were you I would quit fraternizing with the likes of _them_." He jerked his thumb in my direction, as my scowl grew. "You wouldn't want anything to accidentally happen to your friend, now would you?" He put his hand on my head, as if I wasn't even there.

I tried to move my head out of his grasp, but at some point he had grabbed part of my hair. Biting my tongue so as to not scream at the pain, I swatted at his hand, finally hitting it hard enough so that he finally let go. He sneered down at me when I looked up at him, rubbing my head. Stupid prick. I knew that he had done it to emphasize his point to Patti, but come on…the abuse part was getting lame, already.

"Watch yourself, Jones." With that said, he smirked down at the two of us, and then turned and left, heading towards the only completely empty table left. I looked at him for a moment, and then turned back towards Patti and our eventual conversation.

"So yeah…anyway…now that you're calm…you want to tell me as to what it was that Frank did this time?" I asked, rubbing my head again, ignoring the dork. I knew it was weird of me to completely change the subject after the boy had just made an idiot of himself, but truthfully…I was still a little shaky, and didn't feel like talking about it. Patti looked at me dubiously, but perhaps was able to sense that I didn't want to bring it up again, and nodded. Tuning back to my notebook, I started doodling on an already used piece of paper.

"He pulled one of his stupid pranks on me. You know, I swear I might actually _kill_ him for this one. He made me _so_ late today…I didn't get any breakfast, and might have been late to _class_ this morning. Can you _believe_ him? He just…"

"Whoa, whoa…deep _breaths_ Patti! I know it's very hard, due to the fact that normal people do it all the time…you take a deep breath, and then you let it out. Also, you repeat the action continuously," I said jokingly, ducking a swipe at my head. "Now why don't you tell me as to what it was that he did this morning to make you so mad?"

"He went and pulled the prank on all the Slytherin girls…though that in itself I don't mind as much. Heck, I understand…because then I wouldn't be associated with the act. But still…he went and changed every ones pajamas and hair color. That's not what's bad though…if he had stopped there I wouldn't be so mad at him…"

"Okay. We've established that fact. Now why don't you tell me what it was he did that made you so ticked off, huh?"

She just nodded.

"He charmed the clothes to vanish _completely_ then reappear every ten seconds. You know how embarrassing that was! I figured it out quickly, but it took a while to fix. When I went to change into the fixed clothing, I saw what his main goal was…"

Frank had just walked in through the door at this point. He stayed towards the wall on the other side of the room, far away from us as he went around, looking for an empty seat. I watched as Patti gave him a death glare. Honestly, I swear if that one look could actually kill, I believe he would have been dead twenty times over. He sat down in the only available chair left in the room besides the teacher's. I looked down at Patti's hand that was now resting in her lap. Claws were starting to replace purplish-black nail polish. _Whoops_…

I rested my hand on her arm, trying to get her attention before she decided to get up and spring across the room towards him. Slowly, her head turned around in my direction and came to rest first on her arm, then on my neck for a moment. As her arm muscles bunched underneath my hand, I started to try and rub some of that tension away.

I knew she wouldn't attack me; I wasn't a threat to her in any way. Though she was only half werewolf she still had animalistic tendencies, like taking down prey, eating raw meat—clean raw meat from the store, of course; and even than, it was rare—and a few other things. It was the normal textbook information you could find in most magical schools. But be that as it may, and though she had these tendencies, she had never ripped any of _our_ throats out.

Her eyes, once she looked up from my throat and into my own, I saw were tinted red, and were a bit bigger then what they normally would have been, given any other time.

"Hey Patti, um…what was his main goal in this stupid prank of his?" I asked somewhat nervously, trying to distract her from her rather feral instincts.

"He. Put. Mayonnaise. In. My. HAIR!" The whole time she made her statement, her voice got fiercer and lower, and so by the time she said 'hair' it was almost an inaudible growl. "It took _forever_ to get it out! That stuff was stuck to every little _piece_ of hair! Some of it was in clumps, plastering my hair together and against my head…_none_ of the spells I used would work on it. I had to wash my hair _four times_ before even a little bit of it started to come out!"

Her eyes had slowly gone back to their normal coloring for the most part by the time she finished talking. She looked so hurt that he would do something like that…I was about to say something encouraging, and possibly mention a prank we could pull on him in turn, but just then the doors slammed open, hard, and in walked Professor Snape.

As he walked across the room between the desks, he swished his wand and writing began to appear on the chalkboard at the front of the room. As he stood there before his desk, he looked at each of us in turn, not saying a thing. He leaned against the corner of his desk, a set of potions ingredients next to him. An already simmering cauldron with black and silver smoke billowing from the top sat on a small side table back behind his desk.

After flicking his wand once more, a piece of parchment appeared in his hand. Once he unrolled it, he began role call. At each name, he looked up at that particular student before going to the next. Each name from his own House he called belonged to one of his students, he would appraise each of them with a knowing smirk. Once he was through with that, the parchment vanished from his hand to wherever it had come from.

"Well class…I believe we have a new celebrity at Hogwarts." _A new celebrity at Hogwarts? What?_ Hearing these words, I looked up at him, confused. When I looked towards him, he sneered. "Can anyone tell me who was the last celebrity student that graced us with their presence?"

A girl with long black hair, wearing Slytherin robes raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Salen?"

"It wasn't that _fraud_ of a teacher. So…wouldn't it have been Harry Potter?"

"Very good Miss Salen. Five points to Slytherin. It was indeed Harry Potter—though even now that one of his own foul-mouthed children graces these halls, I am…sorry…to inform you all that his _son_ is not a celebrity. Now, who can tell me who the latest one is, that I'm talking about?"

I leaned into Patti, acting as if I was reading something in the book that was open before me. I took out the piece of paper, and started to write in code to Patti.

(-_Do you have any clue as to what Snape is going on about_?-)

Leaving the note book in between both of us, I waited for her to write back. It helped a lot that I was left handed, and Patti was right handed.

(_I have no idea whatsoever. There are only 12 new students this year, though._)

(- _Hmm…well he has to be talking about a person being in here right? And well…there are only five of us in this class right now. My stuff is so minuet that I really don't think anyone even remembers what happened...so it must be one of the two guys from Durmstrang right?_-)

(_Don't know…maybe it's—_)

That's as far as Patti was able to write before Professor Snape got mad enough- probably at the fact that no one had yet to answer his question- that he accidentally knocked some of the ingredients off of his desk when he got up to face us, perhaps knowing that we were writing notes in class.

I really couldn't help but laugh softly at the display, as four vials and one jar filled with a purplish black liquid crashed to the floor.

"Is there something _funny,_ Miss Martin?"

At hearing my name, I snapped my head up, abruptly stopped laughing, and looked towards the teacher. Crap, I got caught laughing at the teacher's expense; there was only one thing to do: lie through my teeth and answer any questions with one of my own. Maybe it would work…

"No…why would there be, Sir?"

"Miss Martin, do not flatter yourself by thinking that you can aspire to be more intelligent than myself," he sneered, his voice caught halfway between exasperation and spite. Wow. I was actually shocked that he knew such big words.

"I don't know what you mean by that, Sir. I find nothing funny, to be honest. Ask my friends, seeing as how two of them are in your House. Besides that, I cannot help you," I said, all the while starting to copy down notes and hoping to be left alone.

"Five Points from Gryffindor for your incessant prattle and lying about laughing inside of my classroom." With that said, he turned back to the rest of the class. "Now, I would like you all to take a good look at the latest celebrity brought into the ranks of Hogwarts students. Miss Martin herself."

I looked at him, frowning slightly, unsure as to what he was talking about. Seriously, I never did anything that great, meaningful, or outstanding…why would I be classified as _that_? The minute he said my name in that clarification, everyone turned and looked at me. I sat there, frozen for a second, unsure what to do, say, or think.

Coming back to myself slightly, I looked around at the people staring at me. Connor looked at me, and then towards where Schmidt sat, fear becoming apparent in his eyes. My gaze followed his to the Slytherins. Durin Whatever-His-Last-Name-Was sat there with an evil smirk and narrowed eyes that felt like they were trying to bore into my own. Blinking, my focus switched towards Frank, who sat there looking almost as stunned as I felt. Orion sat there, one hand resting on his chin, his eyes looking mischievous, but thoughtful, though definitely _not_ in a good way; like when cats look at mice in that contemplative way, trying to decide if they wanted to play with the little mouse more, let it rest to then toy with it, or just give the mouse some pity and eat it before it died of a heart attack.

When I felt Patti stiffen beside me, I turned towards her. Her eyes were a combination of bewilderment and confusion. All the other students sat there in mild awe, anger, confusion, or pity. Some of them I really didn't understand. I finally turned back towards the professor that stood before me, looking quite smug.

"Pardon me, Professor Snape? How am _I_ a celebrity?" I asked before clearing my throat uncomfortably.

"Who else here has survived a potential kidnapping or death by Death Eaters at the age of five, without much—if any—help at all from Aurors, or any adult?"

I just sat there, trying to think around the gray fuzz floating in my head due to his words. I sat there in complete contemplation as to the bewilderment of it all. What really got me thinking was what he said about little to no help from anyone else…

Shaking my head, I decided to talk to my friends about it later. Turning back to what exactly was happening, I looked at my two friends that just sat there quietly.

"In all honestly Professor, I really have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't like to dwell or let alone _think_ about it. But really, who in their right mind would _blame_ me? I don't see myself as a celebrity or _anything_ like that."

With that said, I just sat there, looking at my desk, not meeting anyone's eyes, let alone those of my friends. Taking a couple deep breaths and holding back the tears that threatened to escape my eyes, I looked back up towards Professor Snape, waiting. All he did was give me one small, almost unnoticeable nod before turning that evil sneer of his onto the rest of the class.

"That is enough _staring_. Get back to the task at hand. You have notes to take. Once done, I will partner you up with someone else that isn't the person next to you. Once placed you are to follow those instructions and begin your potions immediately. Now get to work." With that said, he turned towards his desk, waved his wand once, muttering a spell, and sat down reading something.

"Oh this is just great. The first day of class and we get notes," Patti muttered under her breath beside me, finally beginning to copy them.

Taking a deep breath and shoving that stuff into the back of my head for later questioning, I continued writing down what was on the board. I was already about a fourth of the way through the notes before she started. No, I do not love school and I do despise class, but the hard truth is…I write slowly when it's copying. Yeah, I'm so _not_ perfect, though then again I never claimed to be. When she finished her statement, I snorted a laugh in response, trying to stifle a stronger laugh. I was trying hard not to laugh…well at least not in this room anyways, though…I guess I must have laughed too loudly due to the fact that the room was basically silent.

Looking up to see the next set of information I was to write, my eyes were drawn to a very annoyed Professor Snape. He must have been looking over either the ingredients still left intact at the front part of his desk, or the class instruction book in front of him. He sneered at me when I didn't start copying once again. Oops…got caught staring at the indignant teacher. Though, at least he didn't say anything about my laughing. Laughing inside of my _head_, I turned back to copying the never-ending notes.

It was about twenty minutes later that the last person was finally done copying. Patti and I wound up wasting the last ten by writing things back and forth about Frank. Her telling my why it's a good thing to just get rid of him, me trying to persuade her to let it go for the time being and that there was no way that I was going to let her _fix_ him as payback…the usual.

Once silence rang throughout the classroom once again, Snape just started to rattle off names for partners.

"Stein, Cress. Salen, Terence. Ramirez, Johnson. Patil, Brown. Marks, Collins. Fens, Schmidt…"

It continued like this for quite some time; every partner moving to sit at the same table as his newfound co-worker, as another partnering was called, until I heard, "Martin, Nuri."

Once my name was called I looked back behind me towards where Orion sat slouched slightly down into his chair. Sighing, I got up and grabbed my stuff carefully before I walked over towards where he was. Setting my stuff down, I sat, not saying a word. I never really heard as to whom Patti and Frank were partnered with.

Well I didn't until I saw Frank sit down in the empty chair next to Patti two tables in front if me. I groaned inwardly at the sight of them already starting to argue over what the instructions said. What Professor Snape was thinking with that match, I hadn't the slightest clue. I just had to hope that he knew of the insanity about to be created within his classroom…

Sighing, I turned my gaze towards the paper I had set in front of me, trying to ignore the boy sitting next to me. I had the cauldron that sat between both of us already boiling a milky white liquid and fox claw shavings inside of it, and was about to add the beetle powder when I heard someone cough beside me. Intending to ignore him…well, as best I could, I went to put the allotted powder inside of the boiling liquid.

A hand grabbed my wrist and took the small jar out of my hand before any of it could fall into the cauldron. I looked up over at him, trying not to scowl.

"What do you think you are doing? Give me that _back_. Are you trying to make us fail, or what?" I said through gritted teeth as he took his hand off of me, and started to put the lid back on the jar. He turned and set the jar on the other side of him before turning back to me and answering my question.

"What am _I_ doing? The question is what are _you_ doing? Beetle powder isn't one of the ingredients to this potion. Who knows what might have happened if you had put it in? So the real question is; are _you_ trying to fail the both of _us_?"

I just looked at him, and then looked down at the instructions and saw where I went wrong…well sort of. The potion we were to create was the Alerenzia Coracius Potion. It was a potion to make the drinker be able to find anyone or anything in a certain area. It was more of an enhancer potion really, for it really depended on the drinker's power level. We had made it back at the Academy so many times that I lost track after twenty—though I myself never drank it, only because I knew exactly what went into it and… well… gross. Though, at the beginning, a teacher had said that it might be because of all the scary shit when I was five.

A teacher drank it and was able to find one Harry Potter, about a mile away from his house here in England; a lucky shot, and quite coincidental, but it had made for a good story when he told it to us. When one of the students tried it they were only able to find small objects within a one-mile radius.

Looking back over the ingredients list, I didn't see the beetle powder, but I knew for a fact that it was one of the key ingredients. Looking up at the board, I was somewhat shocked to see that it wasn't up there as well. I guess that's because I had made it so many times before that I…kind of went on autopilot.

"Look. Trust me on this one alright? It's an ingredient that is _necessary_ to this potion, if it isn't in there, it won't work as well, if at all. Okay?" I said before turning back to the potion.

"How would _you_ know?"

Sighing I said, "Because I have made this potion more times then I can _count_ and have this darn thing practically ingrained into my head, okay?"

"Fine, but why would Professor Snape not have listed it?"

"How the heck should _I_ know? Maybe he learned to make it differently. Now just hand the damn jar to me or _you_ can be the reason we fail."

All he did was look at me before leaning back in his chair; he crossed his arms and just waited. For what I had no clue, but the thing was, I really didn't have time to figure it out. I had to add the powder beetle in the next minute or the potion would be ruined, whether I add it later or not. Scowling at him for a second, I reached across him and picked up the jar. Taking off the lid, I poured two teaspoons into the boiling liquid. Stirring, it I let it set for the allotted time before adding the next ingredient.

For about thirty minutes the two of us worked in complete silence. He never questioned when I added other ingredients that weren't on the list, and took off one. Okay, so it wasn't _that_ horrible working with him, but _come on_…it still could have been a lot better. Namely, if it was someone else I was working with; almost anyone else would have been better…

We were almost done with the potion; all we needed to add was nightshade, which happened to be in the student cupboard. Turning to look at Orion pointedly, I went over to get the ingredient we needed. For a little bit I could feel eyes on me, trailing me as I walked over to the cupboard doors. I knew it must have been the professor, because the nightshade wasn't a listed ingredient. After a bit the eyes left, causing me to sigh in relief. Don't ask me why, but I was hoping for a little less attention for the day, thank you very much.

I had just passed Patti and Frank's desk on my way back to my own when all of a sudden…

"No, Frank! _God_! You don't add poppy into this potion till towards the end!"

"Bite me, Patti! I know what I'm _doing_. It's the only way to counteract the effects of you adding ground cloves and lace wings into the potion too late!" Frank's voice growled out.

I stood there for a second, and then shook my head. I let it go and went back to my table. Dropping the allotted nightshade into the navy-blue liquid, I stirred only once before letting it set for the thirty seconds it took to complete.

Smiling, I moved to sit down. As soon as I sat down, my head snapped up and towards my friends. I had just realized what it was that they had just said only moments ago. Getting up fast, I ran to where they were. Grabbing both of them by the back of their robes, I tried to stop the poppy from being added. Why nether of them could remember to never add poppy into this potion at _all_...I will never know…

The poppy had just hit the concoction when I had grabbed them, as we were thrown back onto the floor by the explosion of the cauldron combusting into a few dozen medium sized and tiny shards. I had hit my head pretty hard against the dungeon floor, that all I heard for a moment was screaming; I felt pounding in my head, and two bodies hitting me hard. Someone's elbow had hit me hard in the ribs, while another's hit me square in the stomach.

Looking through the grayish black haze, I could see people running around. They were moving so fast through my vision that after a while things grew a darker; more clouded gray before everything became pitch black.


	10. Chapter 9

**Punkette: -**Hugs Jinxeh because she is awesome and a half for putting up with her. Then ducks away to hide from the anger of the almighty Jinxeh- (broadcasts voice from a tape recorder by huge speaker system.) Trust me people she does not like to be touched. I blame it on her upbringing. If you touch her in any way, you better know of the fastest way to get the hell away from her…within seconds of doing so. Anyway…tell me what you guys really think…I'm starting to get a slight writer's blocks and need a tiny bit of help in how to proceed so…yeah. Tell me what you truly think of my story, people…you know, by reviewing.

**Jinxeh:** Just so I can take credit for my own work, besides beta'ing for this chapter (as I usually do) I would like to point out that the first three scenes of this chapter were written by me. The character of Andrea is one that I took the most part in creating, and so Punkette asked if I would write the parts told from her point of view. Go me. Oh, and for anyone who doesn't happen to know this, a 'chibi' is an anime sort of person drawn in a really cute/fluffy sort of style. Google it if you have to. (Normally I wouldn't have to explain what a chibi is…but you never know…) Also, the Jolly Roger is the original term for what we call the 'skull and crossbones' pirate symbol. The anarchy symbol is the circle with the 'A' running through it. :)

**Note:** As was mentioned before, Sirius Black is alive in this story. Is that because I like the character so much that I said "Screw it, he's there anyway!", and then completely regarded canon to make him exist? Well…yeah, pretty much. Deal with it. Also, and just to be clear, there is no canon slash in this story. I swear, give two guys a teaching gig together, and everyone automatically assumes it's a slash fic…

Chapter 9: The Innocent Convict's Fan

Andrea's Point of View…

"_Please_ can you take it off of us? I can't go to _classes_ like this!" a nearly crying first year begged me, his eyes wide behind the square glasses he wore perched jauntily on his nose. I'd have to think that in a few more seconds he'd be on his hands and knees as he begged me to remove the jinxes and curses that I'd put upon him and some of the other first years earlier. Honestly, couldn't these children take a simple joke? It was a rather simple jinx, really, that had left them with scaly wings in their backs, and pink skin…anyone could reverse it if they tried hard enough.

"Nope," I answered easily, leaning back in my seat, my arms crossed and my expression one of not much concern. "Besides, you're the only one that seems really bothered by it. _They_ took it okay," I said, jerking my thumb in the direction of the three other still deformed first years, all of which were surveying their new wings with some interest—though the one boy seemed a little less than pleased with the new color of his skin. One girl was excitedly wondering out loud if her mother would let her keep the wings, while the other was asking her friends if they thought she'd ever be able to fly with them.

"_They're_ idiots!" said the boy frantically, his eyes nearly brimming with tears. "I don't _want_ to have pink skin and dragon wings!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you became a first year, now shouldn't you have?" I asked with a simple shrug, covering my mouth lightly as I yawned, betraying how little I cared about his plight. At my old school, it was tradition for the older children to prank the younger ones. I went through the same thing during my first year—and part of my second; because of my height, people always thought I was younger—and now, I had every right to do so to those younger than me, even if I was no longer at the Academy. These kids had it easy—I sometimes had nightmares about the pranks that got pulled on _me_…

"Andrea!" I heard a rather angry, and shocked voice calling to me from beside the stone stairway leading up into the boy's dormitories, and I rolled my eyes in recognition.

"What the _hell_ did you do to them?"

"What?" I asked boredly as Jon stalked up to me, his schoolbag hanging over his shoulder. His green eyes wide, he looked at the pink-skinned, dragon-winged first years, and groaned.

"I _never_ should have showed you that jinx…and what did you _do_ to the common room?" he nearly shouted, looking around at the dark decorations I put up. I smiled up at him cheekily, trying to look innocent—no easy feat, especially since he knew I was pure evil.

"Like it?"

"_Andrea_!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out or else I'll have to get a new one with high mileage, and no fuel perks!" I said brightly, hopping off of my chair and grabbing my black schoolbag from beside the armchair I had been sitting in. When I walked past the boy that had been pleading his case to me, I ruffled his hair teasingly when I walked by, resulting in him scowling and brushing my hand away as though I had scalded him.

"Hey, today's word is 'ominous', by the way!" I stopped suddenly in my tracks before I'd reached the tapestry that would allow us to exit out into the hallway, whipping around so quickly to face Jon that I almost ran into him. Quickly, I dug into my pack, and pulled out the minuscule pocket dictionary that I always had upon me—I can't _stand_ not knowing what words mean, so I never travel without it—and flipped through the pages until I found the one I was looking for. The book was ratty and obviously old, and the pages were filled with markings and highlighted words that I'd already used. I chose a new one every morning, and throughout the day I used it as much as possible.

"Ominous," repeated Jon faintly. "Right." He shook his head, grabbing my arm and making me spin around before he dragged me to the tapestry. "C'mon, let's get out of here before you deform and corrupt any _more_ first years…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"But what are we supposed to _do_ in Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" I complained loudly as I walked beside Jon in the corridor. We had already missed breakfast, and were on our way to our first class of the day. It was rather annoying, really, that Jon refused to let me out of his sight, as though I would get into trouble unless he constantly watched me.

That was probably because I most likely _would_ get into trouble if he didn't constantly watch me…but it was still annoying.

"I don't know," said Jon, clearly annoyed as he made his way through a crowd of first years, pulling on my arm as he dragged me down the hallway. "Can't you just shut up, for once, and wait to _see_ what's going to happen?"

"No. Can you?"

"Shut _up_, Andrea! _God_, you're annoying…"

"Yeah, well your mom's a chibi! So _there_!" I shouted angrily when he let go of my arm, jogging after him down the hallway, trying to keep up with his long stride.

"My mother is not a chibi!" said Jon in frustration, not even bothering to turn around and face me as he walked. "She works—worked—with the Department of Magic! She is not a chibi!"

"Hey, don't be hating on the chibis!" I said indignantly, brushing by him huffily and then stopping so he could catch up. He rolled his eyes, and let me walk along beside him. We happened to fight on an annual basis, really, so our fights meant nothing meaningful to either of us; we could get over them very quickly.

"So…" I said after a moment, proving this point. "Who's the Defense teacher, anyway? Is it a guy? Girl? Er…chibi?"

"Actually, I heard it was two guys," said Jon absentmindedly as we rounded a corner. "One of them taught here before, and the other is kind of like his aid since it's hard for him to get work anywhere else…something about him being an ex-con or something, I dunno…supposedly they take turns with the different years, teaching them, but every once in a while they team up on a lesson. I don't know which one we've got for our year…"

"Ex-con, huh?" I asked in some interest. "_Cool_…think he's got any cool prison tattoos? Mine's better." I stuck out my tongue, hopping up and down on one foot as I followed Jon down the corridor, pointing to my ankle, the skin of which couldn't be seen because of my high socks. It was common knowledge, how proud I was of my 'secret' tattoo, which I'd managed to get when I was fifteen courtesy of getting an older friend to act as my guardian back in America when I'd first gotten it. Ali's parents had _not_ been pleased when I came back from school with a jolly roger permanently tattooed onto my ankle. After they found out they had turned to Ali and told her that if she were to ever get one she'd be disowned on the spot. It was probably a good thing I'd never told _anyone_ about the anarchy symbol I had put on my hip, then. Lord, how I love muggle tattoos…

"Yeah, I'm sure he does, Andrea," said Jon sarcastically. "Hey, who knows? Maybe he'll give _you_ one too."

"You _think_?"

Jon sighed, apparently not finding my all-too-real enthusiasm with his snide remark to be all that amusing. After a few moments of walking in silence—a rare thing when I'm involved—he pointed to the classroom door right down the hall from us.

"It's right there," he said tiredly, ignoring my sudden squeal of excitement and allowing for me to run past him and bolt into the classroom, singing at the top of my breath "I love _learning_, I love _learning_, I love _learning_—will yah freakin' _teach_ me somethin' already?" over and over again.

I am a _prime_ example of why coffee should never be given to teenagers early in the morning. Oh well.

And as for the poor man that had been sitting behind his desk when I came running in, it was fair to say that he had nothing to do in which to respond to my antics except for stare at me in complete shock when I came to a sliding stop right in front of him, almost slipping and falling onto the cold stone floor.

He was a nice enough looking man, with brown hair tinged with gray, and although his pale and peaky face seemed to have a not-so-premature weariness with life written upon it, it seemed that his usual expression could be quite kind when he wasn't staring at someone like they were a Martian from outer space. How rude.

"Hiya, teach!" I said brightly, putting my hands on his desk and bouncing up and down in excitement. "What're we gonna learn today? Huh? Huh? Yah gonna tell me? Huh? _Huh_? 'Cuz I brought my wand! I can turn people's skin pink! Wanna see?"

I knew I was talking quickly, and trust me when I say that I knew how _incredibly_ annoying I was being—but I couldn't stop myself. I never could; I liked talking fast, and it always interested me to find out what people's reactions would be to my own bizarre antics—even though to me, those antics were completely normal.

"Er…no, I don't think that's very _necessary_…" I could tell that the teacher wanted to yelp this at me, most likely in fear, but he managed to retain his composure rather well despite this. "Please…er…take a seat, won't you?"

"Okay," I said, blinking my eyes. "What's your name, though?"

Perhaps relieved that the subject had been changed to something a little more…sane…he answered me unblinkingly.

"I'm Professor Lupin," he said easily, then shaking my hand and letting go extremely quickly when I stuck my hand out right in front of him. "It's nice to meet you, Miss…" his eyes went to the sheet of parchment in front of him, searching for a name that might go with my personality. "Judging from your accent, I'd say your one of our transfer students, are you not?"

"Yup," I answered proudly just as Jon walked through the door. "My name's Andrea! Though, I gotta say…I think _you're_ the one with the accent, aren't you?" I asked in confusion. Jon sighed tiredly, coming up beside me and grabbing my upper arm in one of his hands.

"Andrea, _we're_ the foreigners here. You realize that, right? _We_ have the accents."

"Not true!" I shrieked as he began to steer me away towards the empty desks that awaited us. Not having even tried for breakfast, we were the first students there. "I do _not_ have an accent! I'm British, I tell you! _British_! Alert the masses!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Class…

Sheesh, the adults in this place have no sense of humor…

Honestly…you know, it was fair to say that I was excited when I saw that the 'other' teacher of the Defense class was Sirius Black when he walked through the door…and I had a right to be excited! He was once thought to be a criminal, and even when he had his name cleared he was still looked down upon by most. He defied the Ministry, was once a prison inmate, _escaped_ that prison later on…the guy was awesome! He was my idol!

However, apparently normal classroom decorum did not include completely spazzing out when said idol walks into the same room that you're sitting in. Needless to say, I earned quite a few weird looks from my fellow classmates when I screamed and jumped on top of my desk, shouting "Sirius Black! _Hey_! Omigosh, _can I have your autograph_?"

If I didn't know any better, I would have said that Black himself was rather amused by all of this, but judging from the way that Professor Lupin buried his face in his hands, shaking his head sadly, he was the only one that was amused by it. It was enough to earn me the usual "Miss Zurcher, please see me after class…" speech, and strangely enough Jon had been invited for the after-class chat as well. Oops.

After class, we waited until the other students were gone, and together Jon and I walked up to the front desks, me smiling brightly and hopping along, and Jon muttering that he'd murder me in my sleep if I got him in trouble…again. I kind of have a track record with that.

"I didn't do it," was my automatic statement when I had reached the desk that both men were waiting for us at. Then I blinked, remembering that both had seen me screaming as I danced atop my desk, and so there wasn't much use in denying it. "Sorry. Reflex."

"Understandable," said Professor Black easily, then grinning when he received a rather harsh _look_ from his colleague. "Actually, this is about something else. Er…since you had our class first, we were told to ask you if either of you had anything to do with what happened to a group of first years from your House…a certain prank was pulled, and you both were named as suspects."

"Huh?" Jon looked between the two teachers, his face ashen, seeming to be rather flabbergasted. "Oh come _on_! I didn't have anything to _do_ with that!"

"A prank?" I asked, sounding mildly interested. "Hmm…you mean, a prank in which the Ravenclaw Common Room was given a makeover, and anyone who attempted to change it around or messed with it ended up with pink skin and scaly wings, most of whom were first years?"

"Erm…yes, that would be the one," said Professor Lupin, sinking back down into his seat and looking, for the most part, a little apprehensive about being in contact with me for long periods of time. I could relate. And let me tell you…it can be very frustrating when your mind doesn't like being around you for too long. I shrugged.

"Sorry, never heard of it."

"Oh, come now," said Professor Black with a grin. "Pink skin? How'd you do that, anyway?"

"Carefully," I answered with a smirk, quite forgetting that I was pretending to have had nothing to do with the prank. "You know the Lithuanian Hair-Color Jinx? Well, I just used that and then added a few…other…spells to it, so the jinx would spread to the rest of their body, including skin!"

"Brilliant!" said Professor Black, also quite forgetting that he was a teacher in this situation. Professor Lupin groaned, and soon enough his hands were covering his face again. "If they try to remove the jinxes, their skin will go back—"

"But their hair will stay pink!" I continued in excitement. "I know! Isn't it _great_?"

I could have sworn that Professor Black wanted to laugh out loud, or even congratulate me on a prank well done, but he didn't. Professor Lupin took charge from there, and according to him both Jon and I—for he couldn't clear his name—were to serve three detentions with our Head of House, who would contact us when the detentions were to take place. Jon was _not_ pleased.

Oh well. At least I got my autograph.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Patti's Point of View…

Yeah, so after that whole fiasco in potions, I found myself in the Hospital Wing, being looked over by a woman named Madam Pomfrey. Looking at the stone floor of the Wing, I thought back to what had just happened the last forty-five minutes or so.

Frank, Ali, and I were all in the dungeons working on our potions for Professor Snape. Frank and I had been partnered up together, while Ali was partnered with another Slytherin by the name of Orion Nuri. Frank kept arguing with me throughout the whole thing. Needless to say, things went drastically wrong. Hell, we ended up here didn't we? Snape had no choice but to fail the both of us for the day.

Yeah, when your potion explodes in class it's bound to happen.

After I was finally able to get up…well after shoving Frank's leg off of mine, I sat up and looked down to see Ali unconscious. Scowling at Frank, I looked up to find half the class smirking in satisfaction. Those being in my House of course. _Damn, can't I get a transfer to another House…please? _

So yeah, given the situation, both of us decided to call a truce for the time being. Well, at least until we knew that Ali was okay. The whole time the both of us were trying to get up and assess the situation, we could both hear Snape yelling at everyone, handing out detentions and deducting points left and right. Well, that was until intoxicating smoke started to rise from the exploded bits of potion everywhere. I meekly suggested he stopped yelling, and get everyone out of the room.

After he levitated Ali out of the room, he set her down in the hall then sealed off the classroom. Of course, mostly everyone was able to grab their stuff, except for two Gryffindors and one Slytherin. That done, he had dismissed everyone back to their Common Rooms.

I hadn't realized until all four of us were in the Hospital Wing—being given potion after potion of healing—that Frank had grabbed Ali's stuff on the way out.

"Well, Miss Jones, Mr. Flynn, all I need you to do is drink these last two potions and you can leave," Madam Pomfrey's authoritative yet soothing voice said, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Goodness knows what fumes you managed to inhale from that ghastly potion…"

"But…but…you haven't told us… is she gonna be okay?" I said, waving my arm over towards the bed off to my right.

"Yes, do tell, Poppy. I would like to know if the girl will be able to serve her detention tonight or not," Snape's thick, drawling voice said.

Madam Pomfrey looked from her coworker, who was standing right next to her, to both Frank and I. She was just about to speak when…

"What detention? She didn't do anything, Sir," Frank said from where he sat on his own bed across from me.

"The detention is for disrupting my class," Snape growled out through bitter lips.

"Um…but Sir…" I looked over towards Frank before turning back to my Head of House, "If it wasn't for her, things could have…no _would have_ been worse. Now that I think about it, poppy isn't supposed to be inside that potion at all."

"Is that true Severus?" Pomfrey asked, looking at him pointedly.

Snape could only look away and mutter under his breath, "Will she be able to serve her detention tonight or not?"

"No she will not, and I will have my own words with Dumbledore upon this matter," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. The kind that left no room for argument or discussion.

"Miss Martin has a concussion, a bruised abdomen, a possible cracked rib, and there is still some blood coming out of the wound on her head due to the fact that her head hit solid _stone_. Now if I were you, I would go clean up your classroom and leave me to do my work."

Nodding once, Snape turned and left the Hospital Wing, his cloak billowing after him. Scowling one last time at the retreating back of her coworker, Madam Pomfrey turned to Frank's and my unconscious friend.

Looking back at the two students she said, "You two should be running along back to your classes. I need to start mending your friend's ribs. This will take some time and I can't be distracted." With that said, she pulled the curtain around Ali.

As we heard muttered spells, both Frank and I got up and headed out of the Wing, and off to find the rest of our friends to inform them of what had happened.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

No One's Point of View…

As the two mutual friends were heading out to find the others of their group, they never noticed the two shadows in the darker parts of the corridor, watching everything. One set of eyes were practically smoldering with a heat unknown. The others were filled with concern, and uncertainty. Neither person in the shadows knew of the other's existence at that moment. Though, the one that held untold concern suspected of such, but wasn't completely sure.

That night the Academy students, minus one, met in the still oddly decorated Ravenclaw Common Room set out to do homework. There weren't any others besides themselves in the Common Room though, due to the fact that every single one of them were still afraid of one mentally disturbed roommate. Patti, Frank, and Jen were still looking around in wonder, pleased that Andrea had been able to let them in.

Jon could be found off to the side reading though a book, still on edge from earlier that day. Their Head of House still hadn't contacted them, which made his nerves even worse. He wouldn't even look at the still grinning Andrea, whom was now petting one Sirius Black's signature.

Patti and Frank hadn't said anything evil to each other all day, and very few things were being said between them now. Jennifer was trying to circulate conversation, and keep what little peace was needed with the group. Each person was very absorbed in either their own thoughts or their work, while their still unconscious friend laid unknowingly on a bed in the Hospital Wing.

All of this was going on while on the other side of Hogwarts, there was an entirely different group of people meeting once again in the Slytherin Common Room; setting up for the next step in their long plan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ali's Point of View…

I woke up slowly, feeling fuzzy, though still in pain. It took me a while to concentrate on opening my eyes. When I finally _managed_ to open my eyes, it was only just enough to see through blurry vision. As my eyes adjusted to the very brightly lit room, I could smell the pungent over-usage of antiseptics that could only mean that was in a hospital room.

Though that kind of didn't make any sense to as to why I would be there, even if I was in pain. The bright light was coming through every window in the place, making me groan in frustration because of the pain coursing through both my body and my eyes.

As I lay there, I tried to get my bearings in order. How did I manage to land myself here again? The better question was 'where is here, anyway'? The Medical Center…no um… the infirmary…no that's not right either. Both of those are at the Academy and I don't go there anymore. So if not either of them, then it has to be…the Hospital Wing? Is that what the other students called it here at Hogwarts? Man, I couldn't remember if that was what it was called…

As I looked around I managed to see I was in a pained position on a stark white bed and boring plain white sheets. As I turned my head to both sides, all I saw was that I was the only occupant in the entire room, which would explain why all I could hear was my own movements. Crap. All I wanted was for the pain to go away, and to leave this infernal place.

With no clocks anywhere, I had to try and guess as to what time it was, which was crap because I couldn't think that straight and I had no clue as to how long I had been there in the first place. Laying back, I stared up at the ceiling, straining to try and hear anything at all. It was so quiet that it was creepy…

I was very tempted to just start screaming, and never stop. The only thing that stopped me from starting that was the fact that it would probably make me hurt even more. That and well…the last time I did such things, I got to take a personal trip into La La Land due to high amounts of sedatives provided by the nurse. Oh come on, I was only five…

Of course, the really long visit there was after a run-in with twelve werewolves at the age of nine, the day/night of the full moon, in the forest around the outskirts of the academy, scraped up after running for my life, I just couldn't stand ever being in a hospital room again. Every time I was in one…it just wasn't good. Bad, bad, experiences. Especially, when it came to Andrea being taken off campus and being placed in another psychiatric ward after being reacquainted with her father that one time. I had to visit her. It was creepy.

Shaking my head slowly as a means to clear my thoughts, I looked over at the side table to my left. Upon the top of the small tabletop, there was a goblet of what I assumed was either a dreamless sleep potion or a pain killer one. I was hoping more for the later then the former. Really, I just wanted to leave this confounded place of sterol, stark white everything, and deathly silence. Yep, I definitely needed to get out of here and find my way back to Gryffindor Tower, and my bed.

Taking a deep breath and gritting my teeth to the point that I thought they would break, I tried to sit up as much as need be to grab the goblet and drink it. Feeling pain throb throughout my head, I leaned up onto my elbows. As pain clenched my stomach to such a degree that I just felt like being sick, I slowly reached my hand over towards the goblet.

Missing the first couple tries, I started to get dizzy. Reaching one last time, my finger tips tapped it a little too much when grabbing for it, and a small amount splashed out of the goblet and onto the stone floor. Slowly bringing it closer to my lips I drank as much as I could, do to the amount of pain I was putting myself through in order to do just that little of an action.

Screw it all. Exhaling all of the rest of the air that I still had in my body, I tipped the goblet back and downed the rest of it. Falling back against the pillow, I let the goblet fall from my hand and clatter to the floor. Laying back, I breathed in fast, shallow breath of needed air as my body throbbed from pain and over exertions.

Thankfully, the potion had been a painkiller, thank you very much. Staying still, I allowed the potion to kick in before I attempted to move. What felt like a half hour, but was really ten minutes, later I slowly sat up and got off of the bed. As my feet hit the frigid stone cold floor, I made a short high pitched yip. Shivering, I looked around and found my tennis shoes on the other side of the bed. Groaning, I tip-toed around the hospital bed and over to where my shoes were.

Now happy that I wasn't touching stark cold flooring anymore, I turned and headed out of the door. Walking past the small office that must be owned by the nurse, I took a peak in to see if she or he was there. Seeing no one, I walked towards and out of the Hospital Wing doors.

Yes, I forgot the damn goblet, but come on like I was going to tempt the fates of pain by trying to bend down and pick it up. Yeah right, that would be an accident waiting to happen. Or would that be me being accident prone.

Thinking of these slightly idiotic things, I never noticed how far I had walked until all of a sudden my feet decided they didn't want to walk any further. Looking up, I came to the realization that I was in fact standing in front of the Fat Lady. All in all, she was asleep, but hey, that's what I wanted to be doing right now too.

Coughing a little loudly, I looked at the portrait pointedly. Seeing that the lady wasn't waking up, I coughed louder. That didn't work either. Growling in frustration, I tapped the edge of the painting sharply. Seeing that she was finally awake, I smirked in satisfaction. You couldn't really blame me, I was getting frustrated, tired, and just wanted to lay down and go to sleep for a bit in my own bed.

"Oh, why hello there, dear," the Fat Lady said, smiling down at me, "What are you doing walking around during class time, in your pajamas none the less? A young lady shouldn't being walking the halls in such attire, you know? Why, in my day…"

As she continued to ramble, I looked down at myself at her words of walking around in pajamas. My God, I hadn't even bothered looking at myself earlier. How the heck could I have been so stupid as to walk around the halls in pants, and a rather fitting—though modest—tank top? Man, I was going to kill myself later when I actually felt better.

Looking up at the still rambling painting I gritted out, "Hey! Alright, I get it ok? Now, can you please be quiet for a moment so that I can remember the password? Sheesh, all I want is to go up to my room and _crash_."

I rolled my eyes as the Fat Lady turned her head, and stuck her nose up in the air. Leaning against the wall, I tried to rack my brain for the last password. Ah yes, "Leo Vera," I said, proud of myself for remembering it.

As she turned and looked at me, she said in a not so sorry tone, "Sorry, but that password has already been used. Guess you aren't a very good Gryffindor; if you really are a Gryffindor that is."

I just looked at her, flabbergasted; they weren't suppose to change the password again until Monday. Come on, I couldn't have been out for almost an entire week, could I? Sitting down, I waited for someone to come out or go in. Thinking back on things, I through that idea out the door. The Fat Lady just said that classes were in session. With how my luck had been going, I highly doubted that anyone would be walking this way any time soon.

Sighing in mild defeat, I sat there for a good long while, waiting for anyone to come along.


	11. Chapter 10

**Punkette:** Hey guys, I'm so, so sorry for not updating sooner. College has been hard from Spring classes as well as Summer classes. I swear if I could go back and change my scheduling so that I was able to update soon, I would. Anyway besides that there was a lot of personal and family things going on. Enjoy the next chapter and please don't kill me. Jinxeh is probably doing so by now anyway. hides in imaginary basement from Jinxeh. Bye lovely readers and reviews. I shall miss you loads. I will type next chapter from hidey hole.

**Note: **The stuff written on the paper that all the Academy Transfers have is written in code. No one can read it but them and you, the reader. This is only because I didn't want to do any more tedious work and make you confused.

**Another Note**: For all you out there who aren't American, or just don't know about this, the 'Here's your sign' bit is from American comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and I don't own it.

Chapter 10: Secret Codes and Slight Explanations

I had almost fallen asleep right outside of the portrait when I heard two giggling voices coming my way from down the hall. Looking up and over I saw to my slight horror that it was two of my more gossiping absorbing dorm mates.

_Yeah just whom I needed to run into at this moment; __**please**__, someone spare me…_

They were just talking about the lasted screw-up in Care of Magical Creatures class. God only knows what it was this time. As they got closer to the doors they finally spotted me on the floor, in my pajamas, scowling slightly at them. Fine, maybe I was over exaggerating about them, but really I don't think I was. Though, seeing as how at the moment they were my only way of getting inside and to my comfy bed…then I would just grin and bare it for the time being.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in the Hospital Wing? You know, you look like hell right?" blonde gossipy number one said.

_Duh! If I look like hell then yeah I'm suppose to be there, but will I willingly stay there…NO!_

"Wow, what are you doing out here in pajamas? Need to get inside?" blonde gossipy number two said.

_Damn, can you say, 'Here's your sign.' Seriously_.

"Um…yeah I do. Could you possibly help me out here?"

_Okay…I'll be nice for now, but once I'm inside…well I just won't care then. _

"Well, yeah, sure, but you know…shouldn't you be getting back to the Hospital Wing?" Number two asked.

Number one just rolled her eyes as she turned and faced the portrait, "Chocolate frogs." As the portrait swung open, I got up off of the floor. Smiling as much as I could in gratitude, I walked in ahead of both girls.

"Oh paa….lease. You know what I heard? That she wound up in the Wing for two weeks because one of her boyfriends for her old school found her making out with a Slytherin." One whispered voice said behind me. Trying to ignore them both, I started heading towards the stairs leading to the girl's dorms.

"Oh yeah, I heard something like that. Though, how I heard it…one of the girls told them and that they caught her doing more then making out. Like my mom always says, 'Those American women have no moral standings. That they are all basically prostitutes and should…"

Okay, one I knew that they had to be talking about me. That was a duh because I didn't see anyone else in the Hospital Wing when I awoke. Also, I…wait, two weeks? I was in there for two weeks? There is no way in hell that could have been right. Could it? Okay, I am just going to say my little bit…relieve some of this stress; then go up stairs and crash.

_Crashing… ah… what a lovely thought that one word is._

"Look you idiotic fools!" I said, turning around to face both if them. My hand was resting against the opening of the stairway. "I might or might not have been in that damn place for the last two weeks, but for everything else you have your stupid facts wrong. Not that it's any of either of you twos business, but it happened to be a potions accident."_ I think. Man I needed sleep before I think this much right now._ "Don't you dare go spreading more rumors about me, or I will have to tell your own damn secrets around the school."

"Like you know anything about us…"

"Oh really? How about the fact that in the last year you had an abortion?" I said, pointing to one shell shocked blonde, then turned to the other. "Then there is you, do you really want people to know that you were only born because your mom wanted a kid and was sleeping with ten men at once, in the hope that it would happen. Also, that you still don't know who your real dad is?"

She looked at me horror struck. "But…what are you…but that's not even true!"

"Maybe not…but who do you think the younger kids are going to believe? The girls always spreading rumors about others or me? Hmm?"

They just stared at me blankly, giving me their answer, though not in a verbal way.

I smirked at her before answering, "The two of you need to learn to put stronger silencing charms up, they seem to fade easily. Now, I am going up to the dorm for some needed rest and I don't want to see or hear either of you. Got it?!"

_Okay, so I said the last two words more forcefully then I should have but I was starting to get into a murderous mood and fast. They just better understand that 'm not joking around in the slightest._

With that said, I turned and walked up to the sixth year dorm. Walking over to my bed, I threw myself on it. Closing my eyes, I moved to get more comfortable. As I moved my hand over the pillow, my fingers brushed a piece of paper. Opening my eyes, I looked down at the magical paper that each of my friends also had. It's basically a means of instant messenger, only magical, hand written, and in code.

Seeing that words were already there and appearing as I gazed at it, I started to read. Yes, in a way we can all ease drop on each others conversations. That's why most of the private stuff is discussed in person. Especially when it comes to one of the boys being an eavesdropper.

_Patti_ Hey guys, Andrea and I just went to see if Ali finally woke. Um…She's AWOL. Have any clue were she might have gone?

**(Andrea) **I'd say the Library, but I don't think they would let a girl in pajamas in there.

(Jen) That's if she is still in them and not in normal clothing. Think she knows how long its been?

**(Andrea) **Ok, we all know her well enough. Come on, if she ran into some idiot…well she's probably already beating the living crap out of them by now.

_Patti _That's the thing though, we don't hear any screaming inside the castle and she can't be killing Jon or Frank. Their both outside.

**(Jon)** Um…why would she be killing us? Oh, and Frank says 'bite me and lay off with the accusations Patti.'

_Patti_ God only knows Jon. Oh and Frank, too late, and too bad. By the way…what the Hell do you two think your doing? You have Care of Magical Creatures right now.

_**(Frank) **_Kiss my ass Patti, and for your information where taking notes. Or at least Jon is right now. Me, I'm just being bored out of my skull out here. So where do you think she went anyway?)

(Jen) We don't know…where still trying to figure that one out.

**(Andrea) **Well our class ends in a few minutes. We'll meet you in the main hall. We'll figure out what to do then.

(Jen) I hope she's ok.

**(Andrea) **Come on, this is Ali we are talking about here. She's the most resilient of all of us. She's probably just…I don't know to be exact, but she's probably fine and would be making fun of us right now if she knew we were all worrying.

_Patti_ Yeah, we all know how she is about that sort of thing. Always has to be the strong one. The fearless and most in control. She would probably kill us all if she knew.

Deciding that I should probably inform them that yes, they were dead meat and that I was fine and in the one place they hadn't considered as of yet; I picked up a pen and started writing.

_(-Ali-) _Yep, you're all dead by the way.

Ok, so maybe not yet. I wanted to have a little fun even though I was so tired.

(Jen) Ali? Um…am I dead meat too? I haven't even said anything bad; it's the rest of them.

_(-Ali-) _Um… no not really. Like I could even bring myself to do something bad to you? Yeah right. Uh… I'm not that much of a pain; am I?

**(Andrea) **Your name is Ali isn't it? Being a pain is part of your job description. It's like well…Frank being Frank; its just self explanatory. Is it not?

_**(Frank) **_Hey! I resent that, thank you very little. Though, tragically I would have to agree with Andrea on the fact that if you weren't Ali, well…you just wouldn't be you.

_(-Ali-) _Uh…thanks I guess. No, but I'm fine guys. I'm up in Gryffindor Tower. Why? Did I scare you people?

**(Jon)** Yeah, for the rest of the school, not necessarily you.

(_-Ali-) _Bite me Jon!

**(Jon)** Sorry…I'm in class, can't.

(_-Ali-) _Fine then bite Frank.

_**(Frank) **_Hey!

_Patti_ Okay guys! How about this…I go pick you (Ali) up and Andrea **will** wait for you boys to get back inside. We'll meet in what 20 minutes? That's how long you have left in that class right?

**(Jon)** Yeah that's fine. We should be on our way up to the castle a little earlier then that though.

**(Andrea) **Do I have to…?

_Patti_ YES!

**(Andrea) **FINE! You two better be in the main hall by then or I swear I'll spill your blood on the floor.

_**(Frank) **_Okay. Okay. We'll be there. Sheesh. Seriously Andrea, you aren't touching one drop of my blood.

Dang…I must have been out for what a week maybe two. It couldn't possibly be more then that, right? Andrea's blood…well her tendencies of wanting to see it everywhere if not the urge to drink it gets really bad for a week. I feel sorry for any guy that marries her. Think about it she's evil for two weeks out of the month.

_Wait….. What about child birth? Oh damn that kids going to be screwed up more then its mom and well I don't think her husband will survive the first 3 months of pregnancy. Shit!_

I shiver at the thought of it all.

Looking back at the paper I see one last note from Patti that I needed to meet her outside the portrait in about fifteen minutes. Rolling my eyes, I get up slowly to change into a different set of pjs. Seriously, if I could I would only wear them around the castle and grounds because their so comfortable; though, with a bra on underneath and a pair of pants. Sorry, but I'm not some stupid skimpy whore.

Yawning, I headed out of the dorm and down the stairs. As I headed past the two ditzy witzy blondes in the common room, I sneered at their giggling gossiping faces. Did I forget to mention that I hate my roommates?

When I got outside, I saw that Patti was already there leaning against the wall opposite the portrait. All she did was look me over and raise a questionable eyebrow. Rolling my eyes at her, we headed off. The whole time we were walking, neither of us said a word. Both of us were used to the silence at times. It was better then filling it with meaningless nonsensical words.

As we walked down to the next level, I could see many students looking our way.

"Hello Professor Granger," Patti's voice penetrated my thoughts. Looking to where she was, I saw that she was further down the hall then I thought. As my eyes looked to see whom she had been referring to, I saw that it was the student intern that was being taught by Professor McGonagall in becoming a Transfiguration Teacher.

Shrugging the thought away, I quickened my pace slightly to catch up with Patti. Seriously, just trying to keep myself moving at the moment was hard enough. Not to mention the pain potion was wearing off. Darn it. Can someone say dizzy spell?

I was starting to waver in my footsteps as we slowed to a stop in front of a door. Looking at the door I scowled slightly in confusion. As I turned to question Patti, she was already reaching for the door knob. Once opened, she gestured me forward. As I walked past her, I looked hard at the expression on her face. The look was so calculated and serious…I just didn't know what the meaning behind it was, nor why it was there.

Walking through, I saw that Jen was already their sitting on a blue floral patterned couch. Shifting my eyes, I took in the rest of the room. There were book cases along one wall, below windows over looking the forest. Next, I saw that there was a squishy chair; another couch opposite the one Jen was on, a coffee table, a bean bag chair, and a cooler.

"Hey Jen, you care…" I started to say as I walked towards her. I was starting to see spots.

Shaking my head just slightly as a means to clear it, I tried to listen as she was talking.

"No. I don't mind," Jen said smiling at me as I sat down beside her. Lying down across the rest of the couch, I used Jen's knee as a pillow. Looking up and over to the other side of the room, I saw Patti going to the cooler.

"Hey what do you guys want?" Patti said, taking out a Pepsi and putting it on the table.

Jen looked over at her saying, "Um…Coke."

"Dr. Pepper," I muttered closing my eyes for a second, "so flippen' tired."

Patti sat both cans of pop down on the table before us as she pulled out a vial of a potion. She held it out towards me. Scowling, I looked from her to the vial, back to her.

"What?"

"When I went to check on you, Pomfrey told me that you were gone. She gave me this to give to you when I found you. Of course that was after I explain to her that you wouldn't go back there willingly. But yeah…you have to take this. It's supposed to make you feel better… eventually."

Glaring at the stupid vial, I took it slowly from her outstretched hand. I started to cough at the rancid taste of the potion. "Oh… god! That's horrible."

Giggling, Patti handed me my Dr. Pepper, "Here, it'll help. Well, if not help… at least it tastes better."

Taking a drink I watched as Patti sat down in the overly squishy chair.

"Yeah…so what…" I started to say laying back down again, when I heard laughter at the door.

Looking over I watched as Andrea entered the room rolling her eyes in an exasperated way. As she sat down in the bean bag chair- which to any of us would be a dead give away (she is so weird)- Jon and Frank entered in after her.

"Yeah…so a witch, a werewolf, and a vampire walk into a club and…" Frank said, as the door shut.

I took a quick look at Andrea and Patti quickly, barley even a glance. Well, guess it's time to end that joke in the beginning.

"And the witch is too tired to save nor referee the beating the wizard- whom happens to be telling the very bad joke- from the werewolf that is sitting in the chair," I said nodding towards Patti who waved to get his attention. "Nor, from the blood letting from the vampire sitting across from him." With that statement, Andrea hissed at him.

"Please, don't even tempt me. God, you two have been saying the most lame jokes lately and Ali that goes for what you just said too." Andrea said grabbing a bag of Vinegar chips out of no where.

Looking towards her, I tried to shrug. I wasn't feeling well so yeah my commented jokes would be just as bad as the guys' normally were…for the most part. Sighing in relief that the pain potion kicked in, I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again, I saw that Jon was sitting on the couch, his bag open and school stuff scattered across the table as he talked softly with Patti.

Gazing back towards the door I saw that Frank was still standing their looking at me kind of funny. The look was like Patti's, only there was more with him. More different emotions quickly filtering across his face and in his eyes, I really didn't understand most of them. Others I barely caught at all.

Blinking, I realized that everyone else was talking again, except Jen who was reading a text book…probably studying. "What?" I asked him, trying to get some reaction out of the scary statue he was looking like.

Shaking his head, he blinked looking from me to everyone else, who weren't paying attention to either of us. "Uh… nothing. Sorry, just spaced out for a moment."

"Oookay."

I watched as he moved to sit next to Jon, setting his stuff on the floor.

"So…um…how long have I been in the Hospital Wing?" I asked no one in particular.

All I got was dead silence. Andrea was looking down through a comic book she had snagged out of her bag. Neither Frank nor Patti would look up at me. Jen was looking out the window, possibly trying to ignore whatever was about to happen. Jon was the only one that would look at me at all. Though his eyes were sad, as if whatever the answer was, he didn't like it.

"Well?" I tried again. Really, I just wanted an answer that's all. It's not like I would get really mad at them or anything. It just couldn't be more than…

"Five weeks, give or take a day," Jon said, his voice soft.

"Wait… how? Why? That can't be right." Can it? It wasn't possible. It was just a stupid potions accident. Come on; if Patti and Frank have been fine all this time…it couldn't possibly have been that bad. They were closer to the potion then I was.

"In that order: How is because you had a concussion, a bruised abdomen, a cracked rib or two, and some blood was still coming out of the wound on your head due to the fact that your head hit solid _stone_. That's what we were told before Madam Pomfrey kicked us out. The reason why is because of the how. Sadly, it is right." Patti said looking at the floor. As she looked up over at me I could see one tear running down the side of her face. "I'm so, so sorry Ali."

"Five weeks! Oh…this is going to suck. Now I'm defiantly going to fail school. The longest I have been out of class is two weeks; and that was Hell. Damn it, now how am I supposed to catch up?" I muttered pissed at how screwed I was with school. The thing is we hadn't even been here that long…or at least to me it wasn't.


End file.
